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A  HISTORY  OF  COSTUMING  ON  THE  ENGLISH 
STAGE  BETWEEN  1660  AND  1823 

Lily  B.  Campbell 

^        The  principles  of  modern  stage  costume  were  determined 
'      when  the  1823  performance  of  King  Jolin  under  Kemble's 
management  and  Blanche's  immediate  direction  gained  such 
^     popularity  as  to  necessitate  its  reforms  being  made  general. 
Between  the  time  of  the  return  of  the  actors  after  the  Restor- 
ation and  the  time  of  this  performance  the  stage  had  changed 
a  disordered  and  unconsidered  presentation  of  plays  to  a  well- 
defined  production  on  the  basis  of  recognized  artistic  laws. 
U    The  Romantic  Movement  had  been  manifest  in  the  matters 
"^    of  stage  costume  just  as  in  every  other  aspect  of  the  life  and 
V    art  of  the  time ;  and  though  the  epochs  marking  the  progress 
*}   of  changes  in  theatrical  costume  are  less  definitely  separated 
^^>  than  are  those  which  outline  the  progress  of  other  expressions 
of  Romanticism  on  the  stage,  yet  stage  costume  did  advance 
)>    towards  the  artistic  goal  set  by  the  Romantic  Movement  and 
%s5   was  consciously  determined  by  the  philosophic  principles  as 
"^   well  as  by  the  popular  interests  that  controlled  the  course 
^    of  the  whole  movement.     That  these  Romantic  theories  and 
s^   interests  are  evident  in  matters  of  stage  costume  even  when 
•■^  they  produced  mere  incongruities  and  inconsistencies  in  their 
pearly  manifestation,  I  hope  to  show  in  this  paper. 
X       With  the  reopening  of  the  theatres  after  the  Restoration 
CKthere  came  a  time,  as  was  to  be  e:jaxected,  of  rather  chaotic 
"^  management.     It  is  not  surprising/then,  that  the  costuming 
of  the  plays  presented  was  at  first  for  the  most  part  a  matter 
of  chance  or  accident  and  was   generally  unhampered  by 
theories  of  correctness  or  appropriateness.   jThe  records  of 
the  time,  indeed,  seem  to  indicate  that  the  costumes  for  a 
theatrical  performance  were  managed  much  as  are  the  cos- 


188  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

tumes  for  charades  in  the  average  household  today.  The, 
property-box  was  a  sort  of  attic,  under  the  ^control  of  .the 
property  manager,  and  each  acto^  took  what  he  liked  or 
wished,  choosing  any  costume  which  he  thought  suited  to 
himself  or  to  the  character  he  was  about  to  present.'  The 
leading  actresses  were,  perchance,  given  enough  salary  to 
afford  to  own  a  few  good  dresses  for  acting,  but  these  dresses 
were  worn  for  various  characters.  In  general,  such  a  state 
of  affairs  continued  far  into  the  eighteenth  century,  though 
modifications  leading  to  a  final  establishing  of  order  gradu- 
ally  CTgpt  ^in. 

That  costumes  and  scenery  were,  however,  not  altogether 
unconsidered  even  in  the  years  immediately  following  the 
Eestoration  is  evidenced  in  Downes's  Roscius  Anglicanus. 
For  the  years  1662-1665  are  chronicled: 

The  Adventure  of  five  Hours,  Wrote  by  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  and 
Sir  Samuel  Tuke:  This  Play  being  Cloath'd  so  Excellently  Fine 
in  proper  Habits,  and  Acted  so  justly  well.- 

King  Henry  the  8th,  This  Play^  by  Order  of  Sir  William  Daven- 
ant,  was  all  nev?  Cloath'd  in  proper  Habits:  The  King's  was  new, 
all  the  Lords,  the  Cardinals,  the  Bishops,  the  Doctors,  Proctors, 
Lawyers,  Tip-staves,  new  Scenes:  ....  Every  Part  by  the 
great  Care  of  Sir  William,  being  exactly  perform'd;  it  being  all 
new  Cloath'd  and  new  Scenes;  it  continued  acting  15  days  together 
with  general  Applause.^ 

Mustapha  ....  All  the  Parts  being  new  Cloath'd  with  new 
Scenes.^ 

For  the  years  1670  and  1671  we  find  chronicled  likewise: 

The  Tragedy  of  Macbeth,  alter'd  by  Sir  William  Davenant;  be- 
ing drest  in  all  its  Finery,  as  new  Cloath'd,  new  Scenes,  Machines, 
as  flyings  for  the  Witches;  with  all  the  Singing  and  Dancing  in  it: 


1  That  the  property  manager  was  sometimes  guilty  of  partiality  Is  evi- 
dent in  the  account  of  the  rivalry  of  Mrs.  Barry  and  Mrs.  Boutel  and  of 
their  common  desire  for  a  certain  veil  which  the  property  man  awarded 
to  Mrs.  Boutel.  In  the  ensuing  quarrel  Mrs.  Boutel  was  wounded  by 
her  enraged  rival.  See  Betterton,  History  of  the  English-  Stage,  pp.  20- 
22. 

'Roscius  Anglicanus.  A  facsimile  reprint  of  the  rare  original  of  1708, 
London,  J.  M.  Jarvis  and  Son,  1886,  p.   22. 

3  Ibid.,  24. 

*Ibid.,  25,  26. 


COSTUMING   ON   THE    ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  189 

the  first  Compos'd  by  Mr.  Lock,  the  other  by  Mr.  Channel  and  Mr. 
Joseph  Priest;  it  being  all  Excellently  perform'd,  being  in  the  na- 
ture of  an  Opera,  it  recompenc'd  double  the  Expence,  it  proves  still 
a  lasting  Play.^ 

From  scattered  accounts  it  is  to  be  seen,  also,  tliat  one 
post-Kestoration  custom  was  generally  accepted — the  giving 
or  lending  of  garments  or  equipment  to  the  actors  by  their 
patrons.     Downes  records  of  the  years  1662-1665 : 

King  Henry  the  5th,  Wrote  by  the  Earl  of  Orrery.  This  Play  was 
Splendidly  Cloath'd:  The  King  in  the  Duke  of  York's  Coronation 
Suit:  Owen  Tudor  in  King  Charles's:  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in  the 
Lord  of  Oxford's,  and  the  rest  all  New.' 

We  find  recorded  also : 

The  Play  called  Love  and  Honour,  written  by  Sir  William 
D'Avenant,  was  Acted  before  the  Court,  and  very  richly  Drest.  The 
King  gave  Mr.  Betterton,  who  played  Prince  Alvaro,  his  coronation 
Suit,  And  to  Mr.  Harris,  who  played  Prince  Prospero,  the  Duke  of 
York  gave  his  Suit.  And  to  Mr.  Price  who  acted  Lionel,  Duke  of 
Parnian,  the  Lord  Oxford  gave  his  Cloathes.' 

Another  instance  frequently  noted  is  that  when  the  players 
(of  the  Duke's  company)  were  commanded  by  the  King  to 
Dover  when  he  met  his  sister,  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  The 
actors  played  Shadwell's  The  Impertinents  or  Sullen  Lovers. 
Downes  says: 

This  Comedy  and  Sir  Solomon  Single,  pleas'd  Madam  the  Duch- 
ess, and  the  whole  Court  extremely,  the  French  Court  wearing  then 
Excessive  short  Lac'd  Coats;  some  Scarlet^  some  Blew,  with  Broad 
Wast  Belts;  Mr.  Nokes  having  at  that  time  one  shorter  than  the 
French  Fashion,  to  Act  Sir  Arthur  Addle  in;  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
mouth gave  Mr.  Nokes  his  Sword  and  Belt  from  his  Side,  and 
Buckled  it  on  himself,  on  purpose  to  Ape  the  French:  That  Mr. 
Nokes  lookt  more  like  a  Drest  up  Ape,  than  a  Sir  Arthur:  which 
upon  his  first  entrance  on  the  Stage,  put  the  King  and  Court  to  an 
Excessive  Laughter;   at  which  the  French  look'd  very  Shaygrin,  to 


^Ibid.,  33. 

'Ibid.,  27,  28. 

'Betterton.  Thomas,  The  History  of  the  English  Stage  from  the  Res- 
toration to  the  Present  Time  (London,  1741),  p.  91.  Also  recorded  by 
Downes.  /.   c,  pp.   21.  22. 


190  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

see  themselves  Ap'd  by  such  a  Buffoon  as  Sir  Arthur:  Mr.  Xokes 
Kept  the  Duke's  Sword  to  his  Dying  Day.' 

Chetwood  gives  explicit  information  concerning  this  cus- 
tom and  one  nearly  related  to  it.  "It  was  a  Custom,"  he 
says,  "at  that  time,  for  Persons  of  the  First  Rank  and  Dis- 
tinction to  give  their  Birth-Day  Suits  to  the  most  Favoured 
Actors."  He  adds  that  it  was  expected  that  the  actor  wear 
the  suit  so  given  whenever  its  donor  and  his  patron  was  at 
the  theatre.  He  gives  an  amusing  instance  of  the  consequent 
predicament  in  which  the  actor  Mr.  John  Thurmond  found 
himself  when  his  benefactor  unexpectedly  made  his  appear- 
ance at  the  theatre  while  the  donated  suit  was  reposing  at  a 
pawnshop.' 

The  comment  is  scarcely  necessary  that  such  an  array  of 
borrowed  finery  could  bear  little  relation  to  the  plays  pro- 
duced ;  yet  throughout  the  history  of  the  theatre  for  the  next 
hundred  years  there  are  records  similar  to  these,  records 
Avhich  show  the  general  carelessness  in  matters  of  stage  cos- 
tume. Sometimes  the  actors  w^ere  hard  put  to  it  to  procure 
suitable  finery.  Tate  Wilkinson  in  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  records  his  entry  on  the  London  stage  as  the 
Fine  Gentleman  in  LetJie: 

Away  went  Shuter  and  myself  to  Monmouth  Street,  where  for 
two  guineas,  I  was  equiped  with  the  loan  of  a  heavy,  rich,  glaring, 
spangled,  embroidered  velvet  suit  of  clothes,  and  in  this  full  dress, 
fit  for  the  King  in  Hamlet,  with  my  hair  in  papers,  did  I  advance 
with  timid  steps  through  crowds  of  people:  for  Shuter's  popularity 
had  drawn  the  whole  London  world.^" 

He  also  throws  light  on  the  custom  of  the  time  by  his  record 
for  the  same  year  of  the  benefit  for  Mr.  Bancroft  and  Mr. 
Costello  on  April  19.  On  this  occasion' they  could  not  afford 
to  hire  a  good  suit  for  the  Fine  Gentleman,  and  all  the  best 


'  Downes,  I.  c,  p.  29. 

"Chetwood.  W.  R.,  A  General  History  of  the  Stage  (London.  1749), 
pp.  22-24.  Doran  in  his  Annals  of  the  British  Stage,  II:  304,  305,  says, 
"I  think  that  this  custom  of  noblemen's  presenting  their  cast-off  court 
suits  to  great  players  .  .  .  went  out  before  the  middle  of  the  last 
[eighteenth]    century." 

"Wilkinson,  Tate,  Me77ioirs  of  His  Own  Life,  (Dublin,  1791),  I:  98,  99. 


COSTUMING    ON   THE    ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  191 

modern  clothes  were  already  appropriated  by  the  best  actors. 
Hence : 

Mr.  Whitfield,  the  wardrobe  keeper,  produced  a  very  short  old 
suit  of  clothes,  with  a  black  velvet  ground,  and  broad  gold  flowers 
.  this  apparel  had  not  been  brought  to  light  since  the 
first  year  Garrick  played  Lothario  at  that  theatre  in  1746. 

Bedecked  in  this  sable  array,  for  the  Modern  Fine  Gentleman, 
and  to  make  that  appearance  complete  I  added  an  old  red  surtout, 
trimmed  with  a  dirty  white  fur,  and  a  deep  skinned  cape  of  the 
same  hue,  honoured  by  old  Giffard,  I  was  informed,  at  Lincoln's 
Inn-Fields  theatre,  to  exhibit  King  Lear  in.  This  grand  dress, 
with  an  old  stock  muff,  used  for  the  Gentleman  Usher  in  the  Re- 
hearsal, my  hair  in  papers,  as  on  my  first  curious  exhibition,  gave 
the  tout  ensemble  to  my  accomplished  figure.^' 

That  an  interchange  of  courtesies  might  be  expected  in  the 
matter  is  further  suggested  in  the  same  author's  account  of 
his  own  benefit.  The  wardrobe  of  the  theatre  was  inadequate 
to  fit  out  Jane  Shore,  which  had  been  chosen  for  the  occasion. 

But  with  the  manager's  consent,  and  Mr.  Dexter's  approbation,  I 
wore  Mr.  Dexter's  grand  suit  for  particular  occasions,  which  w^as  a 
new  blue  satin,  richly  trimmed  with  silver,  looked  very  elegant,  and 
what  was  better,  fitted  me  exactly." 

George  Anne  Bellamy  adds  the  spice  of  the  feminine  gender 
to  a  story  illustrative  of  the  same  carelessness  of  propriety 
in  dress  which  she  tells  of  the  same  period  in  the  Dublin 
theatre  while  Thomas  Sheridan  was  manager. 

Early  in  the  season,  the  tragedy  of  "All  for  Love,  or  the  World 
Well  Lost"  was  revived;  ....  The  getting  it  up  produced 
the  following  extraordinary  incidents.  The  manager,  in  an  excur- 
sion he  had  made  during  the  summer  to  London,  had  purchased  a 
superb  suit  of  clothes  Jiat  had  belonged  to  the  Princess  of  Wales, 
and  had  been  only  worn  by  her  on  the  birth-day.  This  was  made 
into  a  dress  for  me  to  play  the  Character  of  Cleopatra;  and  as  the 
ground  of  it  was  silver  tissue,  my  mother  thought  that  by  turning 
the  body  of  it  in,  it  would  be  a  no  unbecoming  addition  to  my  waste, 
which  was  remarkably  small.  My  maid-servant  was  accordingly 
sent  to  the  theater  to  assist  the  dresser  and  mantua-maker  in  pre- 


11  Wilkinson,   Tate,  Memoirs  of  His   Oicn    Life,    (Dublin,    1791),    I:    100, 
101. 

^^Ibid..  I:   173. 


L- 


192  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

paring  it;  and  also  in  sewing  in  a  number  of  diamonds,  my  patron- 
ess not  only  having  furnished  me  with  her  own,  but  borrowed 
several  others  of  acquaintance  for  me.  When  the  women  had  fin- 
ished the  work,  they  all  went  out  of  the  room,  and  left  the  door  of 
it  indiscreetly  open. 

Mrs.  Furnival  (who  owed  me  a  grudge — )  accidentally  passed  by 
the  door  of  my  dressing  room  on  the  way  to  her  own  as  it  stood 
open.  Seeing  my  rich  dress  thus  lying  exposed,  and  observing  no 
person  by  to  prevent  her,  she  stepped  in  and  carried  off  the  Queen 
of  Egypt's  paraphernalia,  to  adorn  herself  in  the  character  of  Oc- 
tavia  the  Roman  matron,  which  she  was  to  perform.  By  remark- 
ing from  time  to  time  my  dress,  which  was  very  different  from  the 
generality  of  heroines:  Mrs.  Furnival  had  just  acquired  taste 
enough  to  despise  the  black  velvet  in  which  those  ladies  were  usu- 
ally habited.  And  without  considering  the  impropriety  of  enrobing 
a  Roman  matron  in  the  habiliments  of  the  Egyptian  Queen;  or  per- 
haps not  knowing  that  there  was  any  impropriety  in  it,  she  deter- 
mined for  once  in  her  life-time,  to  be  as  fine  as  myself,  and  that  at 
my  expense.  She  accordingly  set  to  work  to  let  out  the  cloathes, 
which  through  my  mother's  economical  advice  had  been  taken  in. 
[Mrs.  Bellamy's  maid,  she  records,  discovered  the  theft,  was  re- 
strained by  peace-makers  from  doing  Mrs.  Furnival  bodily  harxu, 
but  remained  inconsolable.  Mrs.  Bellamy  was  forced  to  don  sim- 
pler garments,  but  she  still  had  the  diadem.]  The  report  of  the 
richness  and  elegance  of  my  dress  [she  modestly  continues  her 
story]  had  been  universally  the  subject  of  conversation  for  some 
time  before  the  night  of  the  performance;  when,  to  the  surprise  of 
the  audience,  I  appeared  in  white  satin. 

[But  the  climax  came  when  Mrs.  Furnival  appeared  in  her  newly 
appropriated  grandeur,  for  Mrs.  Butler  cried  out,  "Good  Heaven,  the 
woman  has  got  on  my  diamonds."  The  house  had  to  be  assured 
by  Mr.  Sheridan  that  the  jewels  had  not  been  stolen,  but  when  the 
curtain  went  down  for  the  first  act,  there  were  cries  of  "No  more 
Furnival."  That  lady  wisely  took  refuge  in  fits,  and  Mrs.  Elmy 
was  put  in  to  finish  the  part.]^' 

That  the  costumes  worn  on  the  stage  were  shabby  as  well 
as  lacking  in  propriety  throughout  the  first  half  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  is  the  universal  opinion  of  the  critics  of  the 
time.  Gibber  gives  many  amusing  references  to  Dogget's 
economies  and  to  his  anguished  viewing  of  Wilks's  extrav- 
agances,  when   "for   example,   at  the  beginning   of   almost 


"An  Apology  for  the  Life  of  George  Anne  Bellamy.     Written  by  her- 
self  (London,  1785,   third  ed.),  I:  131  sq. 


COSTUMING   ON   THE    ENGLISH    STAGE— 1660-1823  193 

every  season  he  would  order  two  or  three  suits  to  be  made  or 
refreshed  for  actors  of  moderate  consequence,  that  his  having 
constantly  a  new  one  for  himself  might  seem  less  particular, 
though  he  had,  as  yet,  no  part  for  it. ' '"  Particularly  painful 
to  Dogget  Avas  the  sight  of  new  clothes  worn  during  the  pro- 
duction of  an  old  play.  And  that  similar  meagerness  in  the 
theatrical  wardrobe  was  found  in  the  whole  of  the  first  half 
of  the  century  is  to  be  seen  in  all  the  records  already  quoted 
as  instances  of  the  lack  of  care  in  regard  to  propriety  of 
dress. 

Mrs.  Bellamy,  to  whom  costumes — particularly  her  own — 
were  of  primary  importance  in  theatrical  affairs,  sums  up  the 
matter  of  early  eighteenth  century  stage  dress,  making  com- 
parisons between  the  dress  of  that  period  and  that  of  the  per- 
iod at  which  she  wrote : 

The  dresses  of  theatrical  ladies  were  at  this  period  very  indiffer- 
ent. The  Empresses  and  Queens  were  confined  to  black  velvet,  ex- 
cept on  extraordinary  occasions,  when  they  put  on  an  embroidered 
or  tissue  petticoat.  The  young  ladies  generally  appeared  in  a  cast 
gown  of  some  person  of  quality;  as  at  this  epoch  the  women  of 
that  denomination  were  not  blessed  with  the  taste  of  the  present 
age,  and  had  much  more  economy,  the  stage  brides  and  virgins 
often  made  their  appearance  in  altered  habits,  rather  soiled.'"* 

The  dress  of  the  gentlemen,  both  of  the  sock  and  buskin,  was 
full  as  absurd  as  that  of  the  ladies.  While  the  Empresses  and 
Queens  appeared  in  black  velvet,  ....  the  male  part  of  the 
dramatis  personae  struted  in  tarnished  laced  coats  and  waistcoats, 
full  bottom  or  tye  wigs,  and  black  worsted  stockings." 

The  significance  of  these  accounts,  however,  lies  not  in  the 
fact  of  the  prevailing  meagerness  and  inappropriateness 
which  they  reveal  as  having  characterized  stage  dress  during 
the  century  after  the  Kestoration,  but  in  the  fact  of  the  utter 
failure  of  critics  and  actors  alike  to  recognize  aesthetic  prin- 
ciples upon  the  basis  of  which  theatrical  costumes  might  be 


"  An  Apology  for  the  Life  of  Mr.  Colley  Cibber.  Written  by  him- 
self (Bellchambers  ed.,  London,  1822),  384.  The  period  referred  to  is 
about  1712. 

"  Bellamy,  I.  c,  1 :  51. 

"  Ihid.,  VI :  20,  21. 


194  UNIVERSITY    OP    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

chosen.  The  individual  taste  of  the  actor  was  the  only- 
artistic  law  known.  The  expense  incurred  was  the  only 
managerial  consideration. 

Even  during  this  period  of  carelessness  in  matters  of  stage 
dress,  there  was,  nevertheless,  general  conformity  to  certain 
traditions,  some  of  them  inherited  from  before  the  wars. 
Most  important  of  these  traditions,  perhaps,  was  that  which 
obtained  in  the  custom  of  the  actors  when  playing  a  character 
"of  heroism  and  dignity,"  to  wear  a  large  plume  of  feathers. 
Davies  quotes  a  passage  from  Act  III,  Scene  2,  of  Hamlet 
and  explains  it : 

"Hamlet:  Would  not  this  Sir,  and  a  forest  of  feathers  get  me  a 
fellowship  in  a  cry  of  players?" 

The  forest  of  feathers  alludes  to  large  plumes  of  feathers  which 
the  old  actors  wore  on  their  heads  in  characters  of  heroism  and 
dignity.  This  practice  was  adopted  at  the  Restoration,  and  con- 
tinued in  force  till  Mr.  Garrick's  aera  of  management.  His  super- 
ior taste  got  rid  of  the  incumbrance." 

Eccentricities  that  arose  from  this  practice  are  suggested 
by  Cooke's  record  of  Booth,  who  as  the  Ghost  in  Hamlet  wore 
a  plume  of  feathers  in  his  helmet,^^  and  by  Boaden's  ac- 
count of  an  Emilia  in  Otliello  who  by  "out-dressing  her  lady 
and  the  aid  of  a  rich  plume  of  feathers,"  contrived  to  indi- 
cate to  the  spectators  that  she  would  do  something  at  last.^" 
— '  I  have  already    quoted    from    George    Anne    Bellamy  the 
^  record  of  the  tradition  which  prescribed  black  velvet  for  em- 
!  presses  and  queens.       This  same  historian  of  her  own  time 
gives  us  an  account  of  the  venture  of  playing  Lady  Mac- 
beth in  white  satin,-"  but  any  such  departure  was  regarded 
as  grave  and  unusual. 

The  traditional  dressing  of  a  villain  to  look  the  part  has 
not  altogether  disappeared,  but  at  least  only  in  itinerant  com- 


"  Davies,  Thomas,  Dramatic  Miscellanies  (London,  1784),  III:  90-95. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  actors  before  the  wars  are  usually  re- 
ferred to  as  the  "old  actors,"  and  that  Davies  is  here  evidently  referring 
to  an  old  custom  taken  up  again  after  the  Restoration. 

"Cooke,  William,  Mevioirs  of  Charles  Macklin  (London,  1806,  sec- 
ond ed.>.   377. 

"Boaden.  James,  Mev^oirs  of  Mrs.  Siddons  (London,  1827),  I:   72. 

2«  Bellamy,  I.  c,  IV:   465. 


COSTUMING    ON    THE    ENGLISH    STAGE — 1660-1823  195 

panies  of  melodramatic  artists  is  there  to  be  found  quite  such 
palpable  giving  away  of  the  murderer's  secret  as  was  cus- 
tomary in  the  early  eighteenth  century.  Davies,  writing  in 
1784,  again  offers  explanatory  comment  in  a  phrase  from 
Hamlet,  Act  III,  Scene  2: 

"Hamlet.     Begin,  Murderer;  leave  thy  damnable  faces,  and  begin." 

This  contains  a  censure  upon  the  custom  of  certain  actors,  who 
were  cast  into  the  parts  of  conspirators,  traitors,  and  murderers, 
who  used  to  disguise  themselves  in  large  black  wigs  and  distort 
their  features,  in  order  to  appear  terrible;  in  short,  to  discover  that 
which  their  art  should  teach  them  to  conceal.  I  have  seen  Hip- 
perly  act  the  first  Murderer  in  Macbeth:  his  face  was  made  pale 
with  chalk,  distinguished  with  large  whiskers,  and  a  long  black 
wig.  This  custom,  of  dressing  so  preposterously  the  hateful  im- 
plement of  a  tragic  scene  is  now  almost  worn  out." 

CoUey  Gibber  also  commented  on  this  custom: 

In  King  Charles's  time,  this  low  skill  was  carried  to  such  extrav- 
agance that  the  King  himself,  who  was  black-browed,  and  of  a 
swarthy  complexion,  passed  a  pleasant  remark,  upon  his  observing 
the  grim  looks  of  the  murtherers  in  "Macbeth";  when,  turning  to 
his  people  in  the  box  about  him,  "Pray,  what  is  the  meaning,"  said 
he,  "that  we  never  see  a  rogue  in  the  play,  but,  godsfish!  they  al- 
ways clap  him  on  a  black  periwig,  when,  it  is  well  known,  one  of 
the  greatest  rogues  in  England  always  wears  a  fair  one?"  .... 
This  story  I  had  from  Betterton,  who  was  a  man  of  veracity:  and, 
I  confess,  I  should  have  thought  the  King's  observation  a  very  just 
one,  though  he  himself  had  been  fair  as  Adonis.  Nor  can  I,  in  this 
question,  help  voting  with  the  court;  for  were  it  not  too  gross  a 
weakness  to  employ  in  wicked  purposes,  men  whose  very  suspected 
looks  might  be  enough  to  betray  them?  Or  are  we  to  suppose  it 
unnatural,  that  a  murther  should  be  thoroughly  committed  out  of 
an  old  red  coat,  and  a  black  periwig?^ 

Yet  Gibber  himself  justified  this  use  of  physical  deformity 
and  ugliness  to  make  crime  and  criminals  less  attractive.-^ 

Certain  traditions  persisted  in  regard  to  the  costuming  of 
the  stage  witches  also.  These  parts  Avere  generally  assigned 
to  the  comedians  of  the  company,  who  were  at  leisure  during 


«  Davies,  I.  c.  I:  92,  93. 
22  Gibber,  I.  c,  140,  141. 
^Ihid.,   134. 


196  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

the  presentation  of  the  tragedies  in  which  the  witches  ap- 
peared. Davies  comments  on  their  regulation  ' '  gowns,  beards, 
and  coifs.  "^* 

JIf  more  significancje^  than  the  adherence  to  these  partic- 
ular traditions  was  the  recognition  given  during  this  period 
to  certain  principles  of  appropriateness  ^hich  were  not  at 
all  aesthetic  principles,  but  rather  the  expression  of  a  funda- 
mental belief  in  the  dis'tinetion  between  good  and  better,  and 
better  and  best)  ,  For  instance,  ^  frequently  reiterated  be- 
lief was  that  the  actors.  ^i^^^erxa^^J^^Qf^J^hg^pjj^c,  should  not 
Qut-dress  their  masters.^''  Of  course,  it  is  barely  possible 
that  the  servants  of  the  public  did  not  take  too  seriously  this 
dictum  of  the  crities.^"  It  is  likely<^tnat  t&W  took  more^r- 
iou^'--,  however,  the  judgment  of  the  critics  and_publi^in  u^'nCj 
insisting  that  the  good  actress  should  have  the  good  gown.^'  -i' 
Gradually  the  tendency  to  overdi-ess^'or^ress  improperly  the 
minor  characters  of  the  stage  world  canie  to  be  frowned  u^on 
by  both  the  public  and  the  actors,  and  it  Avas  repeatedly  em- 
phasized that  the  characters  of  humble  life  must  be  appro- 
priately dressed,  as  must  the  characters  of  exalted  position. 
It  was  insisted,  too,  that  those  characters  w^hich  were  meant 
to  be  fashionable  must  be  fashionably  dressed  and  must  not 
be  arrayed  in  out-of-date  finery.-^ 

[__The  most  important  distinction  made  was  that  between 
tragedy  and  comedy.  It  was  generally  acknowledged  that 
tragedy  actors  must  have  the  better  costumes.  The  basis  of 
judgment  was  the  same  that  necessitated  adifferent  mode  ^f 
delivery  for  tragedy  than  for  comedy-y^^  greaCermoral 
signif£aiIce^of__Li'age.dy.     Apparently  the  only  objections  to 


21  Davies,  I.  c,  II:  118,  119. 

^  Cf.  Chetwood,  I.  c,  26. 

^  It  is  certain  that  Mrs.  Bellamy  and  Mrs.  Abington  at  least  regarded 
themselves  as  the  fashion  models  of  their  day. 

"'Sir  John  Hill  in  The  Actor  (1750),  p.  163,  says  that  he  could  remem- 
ber "the  audience  bestowing  their  curses  on  the  managers  for  not  getting 
that  good   actress    [Mrs.  Pritchard]    a  better  gown." 

^cf.  Kirkman,  James  T.,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  Charles  Macklin,  Esq., 
(London,  1799),  I:  332.  In  one  sense  these  latter  demands  are  demands 
for  realistic  treatment  of  the  characters,  but  that  they  were  not  con- 
sciously artistic  is  evident  to  anyone  who  reads  of  them  in  the  works 
of  Gibber,  Davies,  and  Kirkman. 


COSTUMING   ON   THE    ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  197 

this  order  of  things  were  raised  by  the  neglected  comedians. 
Gibber  gives  a  full  account  of  the  distinction  recognized  in 
the  late  seventeenth  and  early  eighteenth  centuries: 

The  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  company  were  now,  in  1696,  a  com- 
monwealth, like  that  of  Holland.  .  .  .  Yet  experience,  in  a 
year  or  two,  showed  that  they  had  never  been  worse  governed  than 
when  they  governed  themselves.  .  .  .  The  tragedians  seemed 
to  tMnk-their  rank  as  much  above  the  cojaedians,  as  in  the  charac- 
ters they  severally  acted;  when  the  first  were  in  their  finery,  the 
latter  were  impatient  at  the  expense;  and  looked  upon  it  as  rather 
laid  out  upon  the  real,  than  the  fictitious  person  of  the  actor;  nay, 
I  have  known  in  our  own  company  this  ridiculous  sort  of  regret 
arrived  so  far,  that  the  tragedian  has  thought  himself  injured,  when 
the  comedian  pretended  to  wear  a  fine  coat.  I  remember  Powel, 
upon  surveying  my  first  dress  in  the  "Relapse,"  was  out  of  all  temper, 
and  reproached  our  master  in  very  rude  terms,  that  he  had  not  so 
good  a  suit  to  play  Caesar  Borgia  in,  though  he  knew,  at  the  same 
time,  my  Lord  Foppington  filled  the  house,  when  his  bouncing 
Borgia  would  do  little  more,  than  pay  fiddles  and  candles  to  it; 
and  though  a  character  of  vanity  might  be  supposed  more  expen- 
sive in  dress,  than  possibly  one  of  ambition,  yet  the  high  heart  of 
this  heroical  actor  could  not  bear  that  a  comedian  should  ever  pre- 
tend to  be  well  dressed  as  himself.  Thus  again,  on  the  contrary, 
when  Betterton  proposed  to  set  off  a  tragedy  the  comedians  were 
sure  to  murmur  at  this  charge  of  it:  and  the  late  reputation 
which  Dogget  had  acquired,  from  acting  his  Ben,  in  "Love  for  Love," 
made  him  a  more  declared  malcontent  on  such  occasions;  he  over- 
valued comedy  for  its  being  nearer  to  nature  than  tragedy,  which 
is  allowed  to  say  many  fine  things,  that  nature  never  spoke,  in  the 
same  words:  and  supposing  his  opinion  were  just,  yet  he  should 
have  considered  that  the  public  had  a  taste  as  well  as  himself; 
which,  in  policy,  he  ought  to  have  complied  with.  Dogget,  however, 
could  not,  with  patience,  look  upon  the  costly  trains  and  plumes  of 
tragedy,  in  which,  knowing  himself  to  be  useless,  he  thought  they 
were  all  a  vain  extravagance!^" 

In  later  years  we  find  George  Anne  Bellamj^  giving  due 
cognizance  to  the  same  reverence  for  tragedy  in  a  racy  ac- 
count of  her  purchase-by-proxy  of  two  "tragedy  dresses" 
in  Paris.  However,  she  wore  her  "tragedy  dresses"  undis- 
criminatingly  as  the  Persian  Princess  in  Alexandria  and  the 


»  Gibber.  I.  c,  228,   229. 


198  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

Empress  Fulvia  in  Constantine  and   whatever  other  char- 
acters she  played.^" 

— ^he  hjei-a.li&„Ql  a  coming  change  in_  matters  of  theatrical 
costunie  were,  significantly,  the  same  men  that  first jLttracted 
attention  to  new  .theoile^.  of  _  actiug :     Aaron  Hill*  Charles 

(  Macklin,  and  Sir  John  Hill.^i  Inevitably  the  Romanticism 
which  affected  every  expression  of  the  art  impulses  of  the 
latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  affected  stage  costume 
also.  And  the  realism  which  was  the  first  demand  of  the 
RomaoliaJkloxexOjejii  found  its  prophets  and  first  priests  in  C 
these  three  men.  Xheir  efforts  and  those  of  their  early  fol- 
lowers worked  often  toy  eccffitricity  rather  than  either  cor- 
rectness  or  beauty,^Wt  it  is  to  them  that  we  must  look  to 
discover  the  way  in  which  th£  later  theories  of  stage  cos- 
tume originated  and  developedj 

The  earliest  complete  formulation  of  this  romantic  demand 
for  realism  in  stage  costume  was  given  by  Aaron  Hill.  In 
the  Plain  Dealer,  under  date  of  October  12,  1724,  he  gives  an 
account  of  his  meeting  a  "Party-coloured  younger  Brother,  of 
the  justly  celebrated  Mr.  Lun"  and  of  his  being  given  a  play 
bill  for  a  puppet  show  at  the  White-Hart  in  St.  Margaret 's- 
Lane  announcing,  ''Every  Figure  dress 'd  according  to  their 
own  Country  Habits."  Concerning  this  announcement  he 
rhapsodizes : 

That,  indeed,  is  a  Stroke  of  Decorum,  which  out-soars,  at  one 
Flight,  Patent,  License,  and  Charter!  And  it  will  be  reasonable  lo 
hope,  after  the  Publick  Taste  has  been  so  refin'd,  by  these  Chips  oj 
a  New  Block,  that  we  shall  see  no  more  Intermixture  of  the  Ancient, 
with  the  modern  Dresses:  Where  the  Order  of  Things  is  so  capri- 
ciously revers'd,  that  the  Courtiers  of  an  English  Monarch  shall 
stand  round  him,  like  Beaux  of  Yesterday;  and  the  Sovereign  him- 
self strut  about  in  Trunk  Breeches,  and  be  dress'd,  as  old  as  a 
Patriarch." 


3"cf.  Bellamy,  I.  c,  II:  205-2C8. 

"  For  an  account  of  their  contribution   to  the  theory  of  acting  see   an 

earlier  paper,   "The  Rise  of  a  Theory  of   Stage  Presentation   in   England 

during  the  Eighteenth  Century"  in  Ptib.  of  Mod.  Lang.  Ass.,  XXXII,  no.  2. 

32 Hill,  Aaron,  The  Plain  Dealer,   (see  Ed.  1734;  published  originally  in 

1724).  II:  17. 


COSTUMING    ON    THE    ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  199 

Later,  in  the  Prompter  for  January  24,  1735,  there  appeared 
a  letter  giving  fuller  explanation  of  Hill's  ideas.  This  let- 
ter, signed  by  "Jeff'ry  Cat-Call,"  is  of  the  utmost  signi- 
ficance and  deserves  extended  quotation.  The  critic,  after 
duly  sorrowing  over  the  introduction  of  the  comic  element 
in  tragedy,  even  in  Shakespearean  tragedy,  continues: 

For  this  reason,  I  have  been  greatly  offended  at  the  ridiculous 
Dresses,  in  which  our  inferior  Sons  of  the  Buskin  generally  make 
their  Appearance. — I  have  frequently  seen  a  Duke,  in  a  Coat  half 
a  yard  too  long  for  him;  and  a  Lord  High-Chamberlain,  that  had 
shed  most  of  his  Buttons. — I  have  seen  Men  of  Proud  Hearts  sub- 
mitting, unnaturally,  to  strut  in  tarnish'd  Lace;  And  there  is  a 
Certain  Knight  of  the  Garter,  who  condescends  to  tye  back  his  Wig, 
with  a  Packthread. — When  a  King  of  England  has  honour'd  the 
Stage,  with  his  whole  Court,  in  full  Splendor,  about  him,  I'd  have 
undertaken  to  purchase  the  Cloathes  of  all  his  Nobility,  for  the 
value  of  five  Pounds. — It  exceeds  (as  my  Brother  Satirist  has  it) 
all  Power  of  Face  to  be  serious,  at  the  sight  of  so  much  Shabbiness 
and  Majesty! 

The  Reason  of  This,  I  am  inform'd,  is  that  the  Habits  do  not  be- 
come Perquisites  of  Earls  and  Barons,  till  they  have  been  worn  out, 
by  the  Emperors  of  the  Theatre;  but,  whether  This  is  always  the 
Case,  or,  whether  those  Noble  Personages  are  not  sometimes  obliged 
to  travel  toward  Monmouth  street  for  their  Equipment,  I  will  not 
take  upon  me  to  determine. 

The  Bounds  of  Probability,  in  the  Mean  Time,  may  be  as  openly 
transgress'd,  in  the  Appearance  of  an  Actor,  as  in  the  Sentiments 
which  he  utters. — And  the  Dress  therefore  shou'd  always  be  suited 
to  the  Person  who  takes  it  upon  him. — An  old  Roman  cou'd  never 
with  any  Propriety,  be  made  to  look  like  a  Modern  Frenchman; 
nor  a  Dutch  Burgo-master's  Wife,  like  a  Queen  of  Great  Britain. — 
When,  therefore.  Persons  of  Rank  and  Figure  are  introduc'd  upon 
the  stage,  they  shou'd  be  cloath'd  so  as  to  represent  Themselves 
and  not  the  Patch-work  Inconsistencies  of  their  Management. 

They  will  say  in  their  Excuse,  that  some  of  these  Actors'  own 
Cloathes,  are  as  shabby,  as  those  they  wear  in  the  Theatre;  no  mat- 
ter for  that. — Let  us,  for  Humour's  Sake,  imaging,  a  Painter  Imitat- 
ing the  Example  of  these  Brentford  Princes  of  our  Theatres;  and 
drawing  Pictures,  for  the  Great  Men,  of  this  Nation.  .  .  .  Let 
us  suppose  him  to  have  painted  the  Duke  of  R — d,  with  an  immea- 
surable length  of  Perriwig,  whose  every  Hair  was  as  uncrooked  as 
his  Purposes:  — Sir  R — ,  W — ,  with  his  Pockets  at  the  very  Bot- 
tom of  his  Flaps;  as  if  He  were  in  Prospect  of  having  no  Occasion 
to  Reach  them, — And  the  Lord  C — t,  without  a  Shirt,  as  if  the  Cand- 


200  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

our  Of  his  Soul,  were  to  have  been  express'd,  by  the  Nakedness  of 
his  Picture:  ....  wou'd  not  every  one  discern  the  Inde- 
cency of  such  unseasonable  Fancies,  and  condemn  that  Fault  in 
the  Painter,  tho'  his  Strokes  shou'd  be  ever  so  natural?  I  am  sensi- 
ble, it  wou'd  be  more  Expensive,  to  cloath  Every  Actor  with  Pro- 
priety; .  ...  so  it  would,  to  qualify  Managers  with  Judgment. 
Yet,  Both  the  One,  and  the  Other,  are  what  the  Publick  have  a 
right  to  expect     .... 

Not  content  with  mere  theorizing,  Hill  attempted  to  follow 
his  own  teaching.  Under  date  of  October  23,  1731,  he  AVTote 
to  Mr.  Wilks  concerning  his  play  of  The  Generous  Traitor  or 
Aethelwold: 

As  soon  as  the  time  draws  near  I  will  shew  you,  by  a  few  light 
drawings,  a  beautiful,  and  no  expensive  occasion,  for  a  novelty 
in  the  old  Saxon  dresses:  which  will  not  only  carry  more  pro- 
priety, than  the  modern,  but  an  equal  grace,  with  the  Greek,  or 
Roman:  and  may  be  form'd  upon  their  spare  ground-work;  yet, 
appear  quite  nexc  to  the  audience. 

Under  date  of  October  28,  1731,  he  sent  drawings  for  the 
dresses  to  Mr.  Wilks  and  wrote : 

Leolyn,  because  a  Briton,  ought  not  to  have  his  habit  Saxon  all; 
the  rest  have  the  authority  of  Verstegan's  Antiquities,  for  the 
ground-work  of  their  appearance;  only  I  need  not  observe  to  you, 
tliat  some  Heightenings  were  necessary,  because  "beauty  must  be 
join'd  to  propriety,  where  the  decoration  of  the  stage,  is  the  purpose 
to  be  provided  for. 

For  this  reason,  too,  I  had  regard  to  a  contrast  of  colours,  in  the 
several  parts  of  each  person's  dress;  and  in  those  of  the  whole 
number,  with  respect  to  their  appearance,  together.  These  are  lit- 
tle things,  but  I  have  often  observed  that  their  effect  is  not  little. 

To  say  nothing,  as  to  impropriety,  in  the  custom  of  dressing 
characters  so  Jar  back,  in  time,  after  the  common  fashions  of  our 
days,  it  weakens  probability,  and  cuts  off,  in  great  measure,  what 
most  strikes  an  audience;  for  it  relaxes  the  pomp  of  Tragedy,  and 
the  gojierality,  being  led  by  the  eye,  can  conceive  nothing  extraoi'- 
dinary,  where  they  see  nothing  uncommon.  It  is,  also,  worth  no- 
tice, that  a  fine,  natural  shape,  receives  great  advantage,  from  a 
well-imagined  turn  of  habit,  and  an  awkward,  unnatural  one  has 
an  air,  that  burlesques  dignity  without  it. 

The  Furrs,  which  you  will  observe  pretty  frequent,  in  the  fig- 
ures, are  a  prime  distinction,  in  the  old  Saxon  habits;  and  will  have 
something  of  a  grandeur,  not  without  beauty 


COSTUMING   ON   THE    ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  201 

As  to  the  coronets,  it  loas  the  custom  of  those  times,  for  persons 
of  high  rank,  to  wear  them,  upon  common,  as  well  as  extraordinary 
occasion;  but  they  must  be  distinguished,  more  than  they  are  in  the 
papers,  to  point  out  the  different  degrees;  and  worn  in  a  more  be- 
coming position^  higher  off  from  the  forehead,  and  a  little  leaning 
to  one  side.  There  is  an  advantage  will  attend  the  use  of  their 
long  single  feather,  beyond  that  of  the  plume  ....  It  will 
be  light,  and  may  be  worn,  throughout  five  acts,  without  warmth 
or  inconvenience.^^ 

The  principles  of  costuming  laid  down  by  Aaron  Hill 
have  never  been  superseded,  though  they  have  been  much 
elaborated.  His  insistence  upon  propriety  as  well  as  prob- 
ability in  costume  and  also  his  insistence  upon  the  import- 
ance of  beauty  in  color  and  line  mark  him  as  indeed  the 
prophet  of  things  to  come.  In  one  respect,  however,  he  dif- 
fers from  his  immediate  successors:  he  proposed  the  use  of 
imitation  materials  and  the  adapting  of  old  costumes  to  new 
uses.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  drawings  which  accom- 
panied the  letter  to  Wilks  last  quoted  have  been  lost.  Like 
most  of  Aaron  Hill's  ventures,  his  proposed  innovations  for 
Aethelivold  came  to  naught,  but  the  fact  of  his  scientific  in- 
terest in  the  matter  of  costume  is  significant  in  any  study  of 
the  stage. 

Charles  Macklin  is  the  second  forerunner  of  stage  realism 
who  deserves  more  attention  than  he  generally  receives.  When 
he  made  his  famous  appearance  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice 
in  1741,  he  wore  a  red  hat.  Cooke  says : 

A  few  days  afterwards  Macklin  received  an  invitation  from  Lord 
Bolingbroke  to  dine  with  him  at  Battersea.  ...  He  attended  the 
rendezvous,  and  there  found  Pope,  and  a  select  party,  who  compli- 
mented him  very  highly  on  the  part  of  Shylock,  and  questioned  him 
about  many  little  particulars  relative  to  his  getting  up  the  play, 
etc.  Pope  particularly  asked  him,  why  he  wore  a  red  hat?  and  he 
answered,  because  he  had  read  that  Jews  in  Italy  particularly  in 
Venice,  wore  hats  of  that  colour.  "And  pray,  Mr.  Macklin,"  said 
Pope,  "do  players  in  general  take  such  pains?" — "I  do  not  know,  Sir, 
that  they  do;   but  as  I  had  staked  my  reputation  on  the  character, 


Hill,  Aaron,  Works   (London,  1783),  I:  88-91. 


202  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

I  was  determined  to  spare  no  trouble  in  getting  at  the  best  Informa- 
tion."    Pope  nodded,  and  said,  "it  was  very  laudable."  ^' 

The  same  attention  to  correctness  is  found  in  the  per- 
formance of  Othello  at  Drury  Lane  in  1751  by  a  group  of 
fashionables  under  Macklin's  coaching.  The  dresses  are 
said  to  have  been  "not  only  magnificent,  but  well  fancied, 
and  adapted  to  the  characters, — Othello's  was  a  robe,  in 
the  fashion  of  his  country;  Roderigo's  an  elegant  modern 
suit,  and  Cassio's  and  lago's  very  rich  uniforms.  "^^  The 
most  famous  change  made  by  Macklin  in  costuming  a  part, 
however,  was  the  change  effected  in  the  dress  of  Macbeth 
in  1772.  Cook's  account  of  the  matter  is  supported  by 
that  of  many  others: 

Previously  to  this  period,  Macbeth  used  to  be  dressed  in  a  suit 
of  scarlet  and  gold  a  tail  wig,  etc.,  in  every  respect  like  a  modern 
military  officer.  Garrick  always  played  it  in  this  manner.  .  .  . 
Macklin,  however,  whose  eye  and  mind  were  ever  intent  on  his 
profession,  saw  the  absurdity  of  exhibiting  a  Scotch  character,  ex- 
isting many  years  before  the  Norman  Conquest,  in  this  manner  and 
therefore  very  properly  abandoned  it  for  the  old  Caledonian  habit. 
He  shewed  the  same  attention  to  the  subordinate  characters,  as 
well  as  to  the  scenes,  decorations,  music,  and  other  incidental  parts 
of  the  performance.^* 

In  1750,  a  pupil  of  Macklin,  Sir  John  Hill,  published  his 
work  The  Actor,  in  which  he  also  enunciated  the  theory  of 
realism  in  costume. 

The  dress  of  the  player  is  another  article  in  which  we  expect  a 
conformity  to  nature;  but  this  we  expect  in  vain,  especially  in  the 
women:     the  characters  of  an  inferior  kind  are  always  overdressed. 

The  dress  of  the  player  is  not  only  to  be  suited  to  the  part  but 
to  the  circumstances  of  it.  When  Orestes  comes  from  the  tumult 
at  the  death  of  Pyrrhus,  there  is  no  discomposure  in  his  person. 
Mr.  Barry  is  pardonable  in  having  his  periwig  new  dressed  for  the 
fourth  act  of  Romeo,  because  the  poet  has  removed  him  to  Mantua, 
and  there  must  have  been  time  for  such  an  operation:  but  when 
the  unities  are  more  preserved,  this  affectation  is  unpardonable." 


3<  Cooke,  I.  c,  92. 

35Kirkman,  I.   c.,1:   333-342. 

3«  Cooke,  I.  c,  283,  284. 

^- The  Actor   (1755  ed.),   255,   256. 


COSTUMING   ON    THE    ENGLISH   STAGE— 166U-1823  203 

Such  were  the  foreshadowings  of  realism  on  the  stage  in 
matters  of  costume.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  remember 
always  that  opera  and  pantomime  were  enjoying  luxurious 
presentation  during  the  eighteenth  century  while  the  regular 
drama  played  a  sort  of  Cinderella,  shabby-sister  apprentice- 
ship before  the  coming  of  Garrick.  On  the  opera  stage  ele- 
gant materials  and  expensive  machinery  had  been  the  rule 
long  before  the  most  ardent  exponents  of  the  drama  did 
aught  but  rail  at  these  unworthy  competitors  of  tragedy  and 
eomedy.^^ 

During  the  Garrick  period  (1742  to  17761  there  was  to  b? 
observed  a  g:rowing  luxuriousness  in  scenery  and  costume,_as^ 
the  drama,  newly  popular,  was  able_.  to  acquire  some  of  the 
p.erc[ui§ites   of   opera.     Stage   kings   and   queens   played   in 
real  velvets    and    satins    and    jewels,    but  Garrick  did  not 
contribute  much  to  the  idea  of  correctness  in  costume.    In" 
spite  of  the  popular  opinion  to  the  contrary,  the  Garrick  era 
w;as  an  era  of  inaccuracy  in  costume.        Spasmodic  attempts 
to  follow  the  principles  of  fidelity  to  historical  truth  were 
numerous.     Local  color  was  often  striven  for.     But  the  at- 
tempts were    generally    inconsistent,    and    there  was  little 
scientific  interest  in  the  subject,  such  as  that  which  Aaron 
Hill  had  manifested. 

The  accounts  of  stage  affairs  throughout  the  eighteenth 
century  abound  in  tales  of  incongruous  costumes  :^^  of  a 
Cordelia  played  by  George  Anne  Bellamy  meriting  Louis 
XV 's  comment,  "Umph!  very  well!  but  her  hoop  is  so 
large" ;■*"  of  Garrick  as  Macbeth,  in  "a  scarlet  coat,  a  silver- 
laced  waistcoat,  and  an  eighteenth  century  wig  and  breeches, 
as  may  be  seen  in  Zoffany's  picture,  now  in  the  Garrick 
Club";*^  of  the  witches  in  Garrick 'sil/ac&e;f/i  arrayed  in  "mit- 


2'  For  typical  accounts  of  opera  and  pantomime  during  this  period  see 
Gibber,  I.  c,  60,  78,  79,  437  ;  Davies,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  David  Gar- ^ 
rick,  I:  92,  93;  Foote,  Companion  to  the  Theatres,  85-87,  110;  Dibdin, 
A  Complete  History  of  the  Stage,  IV:  18,  380,  381. 

^  Doran's  Annals  of  the  British  Stage  devotes  a  chapter  to  "Stage 
-Costumes  and  Stage  Tricks",  II:  302-317.  The  chapter  lists  incongruous 
costumes  from  Betterton  to  Mrs.   Siddons. 

"Bellamy,   I.  c,  VI:    96-98. 

,>!  Knight,  Joseph,  David  Garrick   (London,  1894),   111. 


204  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

tens,  plaited  caps,  laced  aprons,  red  stomachers,  ruffs,  etc.  ";^- 
of  Garrick  as  Othello  in  a  Moorish  dress,  which  costume  oc- 
casioned Quin's  giving  him  his  much-detested  appellation  of 
"Desdemona's  little  black  boy";"  of  Garrick  again  as  Jaf- 
fier  in  Venice  Preserved  in  a  "black  coat  and  smalls";''*  of 
Cato  in  the  person  of  Digges  dressed,  as  Boaden  said, 
"exactly  like  Sir  Roger  de  Coverly,  as  chairman  of  a  bench 
of  judges";*^  or  of  Cato  as  he  is  seen  in  the  portrait  by 
Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  on  whom  Fitzgerald  comments: 
"With  his  bare  legs  and  short  petticoat,  he  looks  more  like 
a  Highlander  going  to  bed  than  that  noble  Roman,  John 
Kemble ";■***  even  of  Mrs.  Siddons's  Imogene  in  Cymheline 
during  the  season  of  1786-7  in  a  "frock-coat  and  trousers  of. 
our  modern  beaux.  "^'^ 

Stage  armor  was  even  more  incongruous  than  stage  dress, 
Boaden,  writing  of  the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, said:  ' 

On  the  subject  of  armour,  the  stage  has  always  been  as  badly  sup- 
plied as  Don  Quixote  himself;  though  the  books  of  the  theatre,  and 
those  of  the  Knight,  are  full  of  most  excellent  suits.  The  audiences 
of  Richard  III  are  doomed  to  hear  of  those  steel  shells,  by  which 

valour    was    so    secured   formerly Now    it    is    no    less 

strange  than  true,  that,  excepting  the  breastplate  and  thighpieces 
of  Richmond,  not  one  of  the  dramatis  personae  has  the  smallest 
particle  of  armour  upon  him,  in  either  army. 

Indeed,  as  to  armour  .  .  .  .  (it)  has  been  confined  to  three 
suits,  of  either  steel  or  brass     .     .     .     .^* 

The  same  writer  quotes  an  antiquary's  comment  on  the 
1799  performance  of  Feudal  Times  at  Drury  Lane : 


■"  Davies,  Dram.  Mis.,  I:  145. 

«  Bellamy,  Z.  c,  VI:  21,  22.  Sir  John  Hill  in  The  Actor,  152,  153,  com- 
ments on  this  performance  with  his  usual  inconsistency.  Of  Garrick  he 
says,  "Had  he  contented  himself  to  have  dressed  for  Othello  as  he  does 
for  Macbeth  (and  whether  that  be  right  or  no  custom  authorizes  it)  he 
would  certainly  have  escaped  all  the  little  raillery  which  wounded  him 
so  deeply  on  this  occasion." 

"Cf.  the  description  of  Zoffany's  portrait  of  Garrick  and  Mrs.  Gibber 
as  Jaffier  and  Belvidere  in  Fitzgerald's  The  Garrick  Club,  164. 

«  Boaden,  I.  c,  I:  126,  127. 

"Fitzgerald,  I.  c,  194. 

<' Boaden,  I.  c,  II:  221. 

<8  Boaden,  James,  The  Life  of  Mrs.  Jordan   (London,  1831h  II:    41.   42. 


COSTUMING   ON    THE    ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  205 

"My  God!  a  commander  of  an  armed  force  blowing  his  own  trum- 
pet .'—Gracious  Heaven!  Why  that  is  a  Roman  habit,  and  that  a 
Grecian  helmet!  There  goes  James  the  First's  ruff— and  Charles 
the  First's  armour — Shields  of  all  shapes,  cross-bows  like  pick-axes; 
and     ....     a  modern  parade  Drwrn-Major! !"" 

Such  tales  have  a  certain  piquancy,  but  they  are  not  sev- 
erally important  save  as  they  illustrate  the  general  lack  of 
concern  for  accuracy  in  matters  of  costuming.  Of  much 
more  significance  than  these  customary  eccentricities  and 
inaccuracies  are  the  occasional  attempts  at  correctness.  I 
have  already  instanced  Macklin's  red  hat  in  The  MercJiant 
of  Venice  and  his  old  Caledonian  costume  in  Macbeth.  Oc- 
casionally these  spasmodic  attempts  at  correctness  were  made 
in  the  dressing  of  the  principal  character  only.  Davies 
records  in  his  Dramatic  Miscellany : 

It  is  but  within  these  twenty  years  that  the  plays  of  Richard  III 
and  Henry  VIII  were  distinguished  by  the  two  principal  characters 
being  dressed  with  propriety,  though  differently  from  all  the  rest. 
Falstaff  was  till  very  lately,  an  unique  in  dress  as  well  as  character.^" 

And  Boaden  in  describing  the  production   of  Dr.  Delap's 
Captives  of  1786  said : 

The  only  thing  noticeable  in  the  tragedy  was,  that  Kemble  ap- 
peared in  the  genuine  Scottish  dress,  but  had  no  other  actor  on  the 


**Ibid.,  31,  32. 

=»  Davies,  I.  c.  III:  81-83.  Miss  Alice  Wood's  The  Stage  History  of 
Shakespeare's  King  Richard  the  Third  (New  York,  1909),  108,  109, 
makes  an  interesting  note  relative  to  this  comment  of  Davies :  "Tlirough- 
out  the  period  great  regard  for  costume,  so  far  as  richness  of  effect  was 
concerned,  persisted,  but  little  was  done  for  its  propriety,  as  the  portraits 
of  the  time  show.  In  Hogarth's  pdrtrait  of  Garrick  as  Richard  the 
Third  the  dress  is  Elizabethan,  with  trunks  and  hose,  ruffs  at  neck  and 
wrists,  and  the  short  sleeveless  fur-edged  coat,  showing  the  puffed  sleeves 
of  the  tunic.  This  costume  is  probably  the  traditional  one  from  the 
Shakespearian  stage,  and  leads  me  to  believe  that  Richard,  even  in 
Gibber's  personation,  never  appeared  in  contemporary  dress,  whatever  the 
minor  characters  may  have  done."  After  quoting  the  passage  from  Da- 
vies, she  continues :  "This  seems  to  have  been  true  throughout  Garrick's 
management.  Whether  Davies  by  'propriety'  meant  that  he  thought 
Richard  was  in  the  dress  of  the  fifteenth  century  is  not  clear,  but  his 
archeological  knowledge  as  to  the  proper  costume  of  that  time,  was 
probably  not  in  advance  of  that  of  his  contemporaries."  See  also  the 
account  in  Personal  Reminiscences  of  O'Keefe,  Kelly  and  Taylor,  (R. 
A.  Stoddard,  ed.,  New  Toi'k,  1815),  under  "Reminiscences  of  O'Keefe," 
p.   64. 


206  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

Stage  to  keep  him  in  countenance.  These  solitary  flashes  of  pro- 
priety denoted  the  zeal  of  the  great  actor  for  the  truth  of  exhibi- 
tion; a  time  was  soon  to  arrive,  when  he  would  carry  his  wishes 
beyond  himself,  and  produce  a  tragedy  on  the  stage,  through  the 
whole  of  whose  characters,  illustrations,  or  means,  one  correct, 
presiding  mind  should  be  clearly  discerned." 

This  sort  of  zeal  was  occasionally  employed  in  gaining 
local  color  in  costume  also.  The  interest  in  China  and  in 
the  Indies  is  reflected  particularly  in  the  drama  of  the  cen- 
tury, but  this  interest  did  not  secure  scientific  accuracy  in 
the  portrayal  of  dress  or  customs.  For  instance,  the  well- 
known  picture  of  Mrs.  Bracegirdle  as  the  Indian  Queen 
shows  her  in  the  satin  gown — well  boned — and  the  plume  of 
feathers  usual  to  an  heroic  part.  But  her  bare  feet  are 
encased  in  sandals,  and  two  black  boys  in  barbarically  scanty 
attire  attend  her  to  carry  her  elegant  train  and  hold  over 
her  head  a  palm  leaf  shade. 

rin  order  to  establish  correctness  as  one  of  the  principles 
of  costuming,  the  essential  condition,  of  course,  was  the 
II  knowledge  of  ancient  costumes  and  old  armor,  as  well  as  of 
1  the  costumes  of  foreign  peoples.  It  was  thus  necessary  that 
I  the  work  of  the  archeologist  and  the  antiquarian,  the  his- 
torian and  the  traveler  precede  that  of  the  stage  manager. 
To  take  account  only  of  those  events  which  were  most  di- 
rectly influential  in  the  matter  of  stage  costume,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  remember  that  the  eighteenth  century  was  distin- 
guished by  the  discoveries  at  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii; 
that  the  important  Society  of  Antiquaries,  reorganized  in 
1707,  was  put  on  its  present  basis  in  1751,  beginning  in  1747 
the  publication  of  Vetera  Monumenta,  and  in  1770  the  publi- 
cation of  Arclieologia;  that  in  1770  Bishop  Percy's  transla- 
tion of  Mallet's  Nortliern  Antiquities  was  published;  that 
the  flrst  great  popular  history  of  England,  Hume's  History 
of  England,  made  its  appearance  between  1754  and  1761,  fol- 
lowed by  Doctor  Henry's  History  of  England  after  1768; 
that  in  1711  an  Academy  of  Painters  was  founded  A\'ith  Sir 


"  Boaden,    James,    Memoirs   of   the   Life   of  John   Philip   Kemble,   Esq. 
(London,  1825).  I:  325,  326. 


COSTUMING   ON   THE    ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  207 

Godfrey  Kneller  at  its  head;  that  in  1758  the  Duke  of  Kieh- 
mond  opened  a  gallery  of  casts  from  the  antique  in  White- 
hall ;  and  that  in  1768  was  founded  the  Royal  Academy.  Be- 
tween 1803  and  1806  the  Elgin  marbles  were  brought  to  Eng- 
land. And  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
were  published  Scott's  works  with  their  popularizing  of  anti- 
quarian pursuits."^ 

This  interest  in  people  of  other  times  and  of  other  lands 
was  characteristic  of  the  whole  Romantic  Movement ;  as  it 
affected  stage  costume  its  most  important  manifestations  were 
seen  in  the  publication  of  works  of  costume  in  increasing 
numbers  after  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  and 
through  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth.  According  to 
Planche,  the  first  English  work  of  this  sort,  save  works  pub- 
lished in  Latin  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, was  Thomas  Jeffery's  A  Collection  of  the  Dresses  of 
Different  Nations,  Ancient  and  Modern,  after  the  Designs 
of  Holbein,  Vandyke,  Hollars,  and  others,  published  from 
1757  to  1772.  The  most  important  work  on  costume,  so  far 
as  the  stage  was  concerned,  however,  was  Joseph  Strutt's 
Horda  Angelcynnan,  or  A  Compleat  View  of  the  Manners, 
Customs,  Arms,  Habits,  etc.  of  the  Inhabitants  of  England, 
published  in  1775.  This  three-volume  work  is  painstaking 
in  its  accuracy;  it  contains  extensive  descriptions  and  many 
illustrative  plates.  The  author  described  it  as,  so  far  as  he 
knew,  "the  first  attempt  of  this  sort  ever  made  in  this 
country,"  and  it  has  remained  the  foundation  work  upon 
which  later  students  have  based  their  researches.  Strutt's 
work  was  followed  by  a  series  of  works  of  related  character 
during  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  And  in 
1814  was  published  a  work  making  in  its  preface  definite 


"Planche,  J.  R.,  in  his  Recollections,  I:  224,  says:  "To  Sir  Walter 
Scott  the  honour  is  due  of  having  first  attracted  public  attention  to  the 
advantages  derivable  from  the  study  of  such  subjects  as  a  new  source  of 
effect  as  well  as  of  historical  illustration ;  and  though  his  descriptions 
of  the  dress,  armour,  and  architecture  of  the  Anglo-Norman  and  Medie- 
val periods  are  far  from  correct,  those  in  the  romances  and  poems,  the 
scenes  of  which  are  laid  in  his  own  country  or  elsewhere  during  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries,  are  admirable  for  their  truth  and 
graphic  delineation". 


208  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

claims  of  particular  significance.  This  work  was  Charles 
Hamilton  Smith's  The  Ancient  Costumes  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  from  the  Seventh  to  the  Sixteenth  Century. 
The  preface  explains: 

The  Collection  of  Ancient  Costumes  exhibited  in  this  Volume  is 
selected  from  an  immense  mass  of  materials  in  the  possession  of 
the  Author.  It  was  originally  begun  for  private  amusement,  and 
with  a  view  to  ascertain  more  correctly  the  Clothing,  Arms,  Decora- 
tions, and  appearance  of  historic  characters  in  the  earliest  periods 
of  our  annals  than  had  as  yet  been  attempted.  It  was  evident 
that,  notwithstanding  the  labours  of  the  accurate  Mr.  Strutt,  truth 
of  costume  was  little  regarded  either  by  Painters  or  Actors;  and  it 
seemed  that  this  inattention  to  so  essential  a  part  of  historic  repre- 
sentation arose  from  a  prejudiced  idea  in  a  great  proportion  of  the 
Public,  which  conceived,  that  the  pursuits  of  the  Antiquary  are 
dry,  tasteless,  and  inelegant;  and  that  to  introduce  upon  the  stage 
or  upon  the  canvas  materials  derived  from  such  a  source,  must 
naturally  destroy  all  beauty  and  harmony,  arid  produce  an  insipid 
if  not  a  burlesque  effect.  But  an  inspection  of  the  following  speci- 
mens will  tend  to  prove  the  notion  groundless,  and  shew  that  when 
the  outline  of  the  human  form  is  preserved  tolerably  correct,  the 
draperies  and  armour  will  not  be  wanting  in  beauty  or  grandeur. 
Far  from  diminishing  the  impression  intended  to  be  conveyed,  an 
adherence  to  the  Costume  of  the  times  represented  will  augment 
the  illusion,  and  assist  to  explain  the  meaning."' 

This  work  was  amply  illustrated  by  colored  plates.  In  1815 
this  work  was  revised  and  enlarged  under  the  title  of  Cos- 
tumes of  the  Original  Inhabitants  of  the  British  Isles,  the 
author  working  in  collaboration  with  Sir  Samuel  Meyrick. 
Meyrick's  most  famous  work,  however,  is  his  A  Critical  In- 
quiry into  antient  Armour,  published  in  1824  and  furnishing 
the  basis  of  subsequent  works  on  old  armor  and  related  sub- 
jects. The  great  work  on  British  costume  did  not  appear 
until  1834,  when  James  Eobinson  Planche's  History  of 
British   Costume  was  published.       The  author   commented 


=3  In  Paris  in  1804-5  was  published  Recherches  sur  les  Costumes,  les 
Moeurs,  les  Usages  Religieux,  Civils  et  Militaires  des  Anciens  Peuples, 
by  J.  Malliot  which  professed  the  reason  for  its  existence  to  be  found  in 
the  fact  that   (I  quote  from  the  Avertissement  to  the  second  edition  of 

1809)    "Les  artistes  desiraient  un  livre   classique  sur   le   costume  et  les 

moeurs  des  anciens  peuples". 


COSTUMING   ON   THE   ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1S23  209 

particularly  on  the  changing  habits  of  the  stage  in  regard 
to  dress  and  on  the  consequent  need  for  a  handbook  of  cos- 
tume.   He  explained : 

The  taste  for  a  correct  conception  of  the  arms  and  habits  of  our 
ancestors  has  of  late  years  rapidly  diffused  itself  throughout  Europe. 
The  historian,  the  poet,  the  novelist,  the  painter,  and  the  actor 
have  discovered  in  attention  to  costume  a  new  spring  of  informa- 
tion and  a  fresh  source  of  effect. 

This  interest  revealed  in  the  works  on  historical  costume 
was  paralleled  by  an  interest  in  the  costumes  of  foreign  peo- 
ples which  was  manifested  especially  during  the  early  years  of 
the  nineteenth  century  but  which  was  not  particularly  in- 
fluential in  contemporary  stage  affairs  so  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  discover.  The  work  of  William  Miller  (or  Miiller) 
was  of  particular  importance.^* 

To  make  available  the  knowledge  of  costumes  and  customs 
of  the  ancients  and  of  strange  peoples  was,  of  course,  the 
work  of  the  scholar.  To  interpret  this  knowledge  to  the 
audience  at  the  theater  was  the  task  of  the  stage  manager 
and  his  assistants.  That  this  task  became  more  and  more  a 
necessary  one  as  the  taste  of  the  people  was  educated  through 
their  knowledge  of  the  results  of  the  work  of  these  students 
of  research  is,  of  course,  apparent.  Naturally,  therefore, 
during  the  late  eighteenth  century  and  the  early  nineteenth 
century  there  was  a  growing  importance  attached  to  the  po- 
sition of  stage  manager  and  a  new  interest  in  stage  artists. 

It  is,  of  course,  apparent  that  the  Komantic  demand  for 
realism' embraced  the  demand  for  the  use  of  real  materials 
,.-,^1if  stage  costumes  and  for  accuracy  of  historical  detail  and 
local  color  in  their  design.  Garrick,  as  I  have  already  said, 
did  not  make  any  noteworthy  contribution  to  correctness 
in  theatrical  dress.  He  apparently  was  not  interested  in 
antiquarian  pursuits,   and  whatever  contributions  he  made 


^*  For  an  account  of  the  work  of  Miller,  see  the  article  in  the  Dic- 
tionary of  National  Biography.  Also  article  in  Gentleman's  Magazine, 
1845,  Pt.  I,  102,  103.  He  was  the  author  of  a  series  of  works  in  quarto  on 
the  costumes  of  China,  Russia,  Turkey,  etc.,  published  during  the  first 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


210  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

were  made  for  the  sake  of  scenic  novelty  and  were  offered  as 
spectacular  attractions  to  the  public.  He  did  bring  about 
the  use  of  elegant  materials,  real  jewels,  and  similar  luxurious 
trappings  on  the  stage,  but  again  he  seems  to  have  been  in- 
terested in  them  not  because  of  their  answering  the  artistic 
demand  for  reality  but  because  they  were  extravagances 
which  the  public  would  pay  to  see. 

Yet  however  much  Garrick  failed  to  pursue  the  ideals  of 
accuracy  on  the  stage,  he  is  to  be  reckoned  as  important  in 
tlie^histoiy  of  the  progress  of  stage  realism Ji£causfi_QLilis 
bringing  to  the  English  stage  De  Loutherbourg.  In  1771 
GarricE  met  this  Alsatian  artist,  already  popular  in  Paris, 
where  he  had  studied  "stage  illusion_^id  mechanics,"  and 
engaged  his  services  for  Drury  Lane,  where  he  continued  to 
work  until  1781.  Later  he  went  to  Covent  Garden.  The 
Dictionary  of  National  Biography  states  rather  overwhelm- 
ingly and  vaguely  that  he  reformed  theatrical  costume. 
Such  a  claim  is  not  quite  modest  enough,  but  it  is  certain 
that  De  Loutherbourg  did  contribjute  to  the  stage  even  be- 
fore the  Kemble  period  a  distinct  interest  in  accurate  and.rV^-,^^ 
effective  costuming  on  the  stage.  Primarily  his  interest 
was  hi  scenic  effect,  but  he  realized,  apparently  ^for_the^  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  English  stage,  the  relation  of  cos- 
tume and  scenery,  and  the  necessity  for  making  both  pi'o- 
duce  an  unified  artistic  effect,  as  well  as  the  necessity  for 
making  both  accurately  reproduce  the  environment  of  the 
characters  of  the  play.  On  December  20,  1785,  under  his 
direction  there  was  produced  at  Covent  Garden,  O'Keefe's 
pantomime,  Omai  or  Ohessa,  Queen  of  the  Sandwich  Isles, 
the  costumes  being  designed  from  studies  made  by  John 
Webber,  R.^.,  the  painter  avIio  was  with  Captain  Cook  on 
his  last  voyage,  and  who  painted  The  Death  of  Captain 
Cook.^^  As  nearly  as  I  can  ascertain,  this  was  the  first  per- 
formance on  the  English  stage  characterized  by  the  attempt 
to  secure  absolute  accuracy  in  regard  to  foreign  costume  by 


"  For  an  account  of  this  performance  see  article  in  Die.  of  Nat.  Biog. 
on  De  Loutherbourg,  comment  in  the  London  Magazine  for  the  month, 
and  in  Boaden's  Kemhle,  I:  311,   312. 


COSTUMING   ON   THE    ENGLISH    STAGE— 1660-1823  211 

having  dresses  designed  by  an  artist  from  studies  actually 
made  on  the  spot.  De  Loutherbourg's  contribution  to  the 
realism  of  stage  costume  came  because  of  his  scientific  in- 
terest in  accuracy  and  because  of  his  interest  in  producing 
the  semblance  of  real  life  on  the  stage.  His  invention  of 
stage  thunder,  of  cloud  effects  realistically  conceived,  of  the 
many  mechanical  devices  for  securing  realism  in  stage  ef- 
fects, was  in  the  realm  of  costume  apparently  paralleled  by 
his  desire  to  produce  equally  the  illusion  of  reality.  Of  his 
realization  of  the  artistic  value  of  costume  and  scenery  I 
shall  speak  later.°^ 

Giving  full  recognition  to  the  work  of  the  early  realists 
from  Aaron  Hill  to  De  Loutherbourg,  we  must  still  acknowl- 
edge that  it  is  really  to  the  Kembles  that  we  owe  the  final 
prevalence  of  accuracy  in  matters  of  historical  detail  and 
local  color  on  the  English  stage.  '  Boaden  sums  up  the  state 
of  affairs  in  1785  at  the  time  when  John  Kemble  came  into 
power : 

Upon  the  London  stage,  nearly  everything,  as  to  correctness,  was 
to  be  done.  The  ancient  kings  of  England,  or  Scotland,  or  Den- 
mark, wore  the  court  dress  of  our  own  times,  as  to  shape;  and  as  to 
colour,  the  rival  monarchs  of  England  and  Prance  opposed  their 
persons  to  each  other  in  scarlet  and  gold-lace,  and  white  and  silver. 

Kemble  decided  "that  a  grand  and  permanent  attraction 
might  be  given  to  Drury  Lane  by  increasing  the  power  of 
Shakespeare."     Boaden  continues:  « 

This  he  proposed  to  effect  by  a  more  stately  and  perfect  repre- 
sentation of  his  plays — to  attend  to  all  the  details  as  well  as  the 
grand  features,  and  by  the  aids  of  scenery  and  dress  to  perfect  the 

dramatic  illusion. 

\     , 

La  Clairon  had  already,  atteinpted,  somethiiig  of- the  sort  in 

Paris,  the  authoii-..adds."    Til  •♦he  words  of  Kemble 's  fare- 

well  speech  at  Drury  Lane    in    1^7,    his    object    had  been 

throughout  his  career  the  establislwnent  of  "a  union  of  pro- 


n 


"For  the  most  complete  record  of  De  Loutherbourg,  see  Trofessor  W. 
J.  Lawrence,  The  Pioneers  of  Modern  English  Stage-Mounting :  Phillipe 
Jacques  de  Loutherbourg,  R.  A.  in  the  Magazine  o/ ^Aj^T^VIII  :  172-178. 

"Cf.  Boaden,  Life  of  Kemble.  I:   279-285. 


212  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

priety  and  splendour  in  the  representation  of  our  best  plays, 
and  particularly  of  those  of  the  divine  Shakespeare.  "^^ 
This  object  he  sought  to  attain  by  the  close  study  of  anti- 
quarian researches  and  artistic  principles. 

Commenting  on  the  state  of  the  theatre  eight  years  later, 
Boaden  again  sums  up  the  demands  which  Kemble  had  to 
meet : 

Dress,  too,  was  now  become  a  matter  of  no  slight  moment;  the  cos- 
tume was  to  be  accurate,  which  was  not  expensive,  and  the  mate- 
rials were  to  be  genuine,  not  imitation,  which  certainly  was  expen- 
sive, and  very  heavily  so.™ 

Certainly  Kemble  gave  more  consideration  to  both  aspects 
of  the  subject  than  had  ever  been  given  before.  In  general, 
he  fixed  the  lines  of  development  for  the  stage  of  the  next 
century,  and  the  stage  during  his  time  attained  a  dignity 
and  splendor  in  its  productions  which  had  been  undreamed 
of  before. 

With  the  name  of  John  Kemble,  however,  there  must  al- 
ways be  associated  that  of  William  Capon,  an  artist  and 
antiquary  of  note  in  his  day.  Capon  worked  with  Kemble 
at  Drury  Lane  after  1794,  when  at  the  opening  of  the  new 
theatre  it  was  decided  to  put  all  the  splendor  on  the  prin- 
cipal piece  rather  than  on  the  after-piece  as  before ;  and 
later,  when  Kemble  found  himself  with  a  free  hand  at 
Covent  Garden  in  1809,  he  engaged  Capon  as  stage  artist 
for  that  theatre  likewise  and  entered  upon  an  era  of  prodigal 
-expenditure  upon  scenery  and  costume  under  his  direction. 
It  is  generally  conceded  that  it  is  to  Capon,  whose  knowl- 
edge of  antiquities  and  whose  antiquarian  zeal  made  him 
diligent  in  producing  scenery  characterized  by  accurate  his- 
torical detail,  that  Kemble  owed  much  of  his  interest  in  stage 
scenery  and  in  stage  costume.*"  , 


"Quoted  in  J.  F.  MoUoy's  Life  and  Adventures  of  Edynund  Kean  (Lon- 
don, 1888)   II:  30. 

'"Boaden.  Life  of  Mrs.  Jordan,  I:  254,   255. 

«o  Cf.  Foote,  Horace,  A  Companion  to  the  Theatres  (1829),  124.  For  a 
more  complete  account  of  Capnn'.s  work,  see  Professor  W.  J.  Lawrence's 
article.  The  Pioneers  of  Modern  English  Stage  Mounting:  William  Ca- 
pon, in  the  Magazine  of  Art.  XVIII :  289-292. 


COSTUMING    ON   THE    ENGLISH   STAGE — 1660-1823  213 

Kemble's  most  extensive  contributions  at  this  stage  were 
made  in  Roman  plays.  In  fact,  we  find  him  again  and  again 
referred  to  as  "that  noble  Roman."  Doran  says  of  him: 
''That  his  sympathies  w^ere  classical,  may  in  some  sort  be 
accepted  from  the  fact,  that  he  began  his  public  life  in  1776 
— at  Wolverhampton,  with  Theodosius,  and  closed  it,  at 
Covent  Garden,  in  1817,  with  Coriolanus. "  And  again: 
"111  one  class  of  character  Kemble  was  preeminent.  He  was 
'the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all.'  His  name  is  closely  asso- 
ciated with  Coriolanus,  and  next  with  Cato.  ""'^  Planche 
says  that  he  was  most  interested  in  the  production  of  Roman 
plays.  And  in  general  we  see,  I  think,  in  Kemble's  per- 
sonal preference  and  in  the  general  interest  in  Roman  re- 
vivals which  characterized  the  century  the  reason  for  the 
early  insistence  upon  comparative  accuracy  in  the  dressing  of 
Roman  characters  on  the  stage. 

Curiously  enough  Kemble  was  apparently  fearful  of  be- 
ing taken  for  a  dry-as-dust  antiquarian  in  the  manner  of  the 
modern  college  professor  who  fears  to  be  "high-brow." 
Planche  tells  of  a  visit  to  Francis  Douce  which  threw  light 
on  the  subject: 

This  gentleman  had  assisted  Mr.  John  Kemble  when  he  intro- 
duced several  alterations  in  the  costumes  of  Shakespeare's  plays, 
particularly  those  founded  on  Roman  history;  for  which  latter, 
however,  he  drew  his  materials  from  the  columns  and  arches  of  the 
emperors,  and  not  from  the  contemporaneous  republican  authori- 
ties. When  urged  to  do  so,  and  to  "reform  it  altogetherVhe  ex- 
claimed to  Mr.  Douce,  in  a  tone  almost  of  horror,  "Why,  if  I  did, 
sir,  they  would  call  me  an  antiquary".  "And  this  to  me,  sir!"  said 
the  dear  old  man,  when  he  had  told  me  of  the  circumstance,  "to 
vie,  who  flattered  myself  I  was  an  antiquary"."' 

That  it  was  left  for  Charles  Kemble  to  bring  about  the  re- 
forms more  timidly  inaugurated  by  his  brother  is  to  be  seen 
from  the  following  account  of  events  leading  to  the  famous 
performance  of  King  John.     The  account  is  taken  from  J.  R. 


"Doran,  I.  c,  II:   276,  277. 

"'Planche,  J.  R.,   The  Recollections  and  Reflections  of,   (London,   1872), 
I:  54. 


214  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

Planche's  Recollections  and  constitutes  one  of  the  most  signi- 
ficant of  stage  records: 

In  1823  a  casual  conversation  with  Mr.  Kemble  respecting  the 
play  of  "King  John,"  which  he  was  about  to  revive  for  Young,  who 
had  returned  to  Covent  Garden,  led  to  a  step,  the  consequences  of 
which  have  been  of  immense  importance  to  the  English  stage. 
.  I  complained  to  Mr.  Kemble  that  a  thousand  pounds 
were  frequently  lavished  on  a  Christmas  pantomime  or  an  Easter 
spectacle,  while  the  plays  of  Shakespeare  were  put  upon  the  stage 
with  make-shift  scenery,  and,  at  the  best,  a  new  dress  or  two  for 
the  principal  characters.  That  although  his  brother  John,  whose 
classical  mind  revolted  from  the  barbarisms  which  even  a  Garrick 
had  tolerated,  had  abolished  the  bag  wig  of  Brutus  and  the  gold- 
laced  suit  of  Macbeth,  the  alterations  made  in  the  costumes  of  the 
plays  founded  upon  English  history  in  particular,  while  they  ren- 
dered them  more  picturesque  added  but  little  to  their  propriety; 
the  whole  series,  "King  Lear"  included,  being  dressed  in  habits  of  the 
Elizabethan  era,  the  third  reign  after  its  termination  with  "Henry 
VIII.,"  and,  strictly  speaking,  very  inaccurately  representing  the 
costume  even  of  that  period.  ...  It  was  decided  that  I  should 
make  the  necessary  researches,  design  the  dresses,  and  superintend 
the  production  of  "King  John",  gratuitously,  I  beg  leave  to  say; 
solely  and  purely  for  that  love  of  the  stage.  .  .  .  Fortunately 
I  obtained  through  a  mutual  friend,  an  introduction  to  Doctor,  after- 
wards Sir  Samuel  Meyrick,  who  had  just  published  his  elaborate 
and  valuable  work,  A  Critical  Inquiry  into  Ancient  Arms  and  Arm- 
our, and  was  forming  that  magnificent  and  instructive  collection 
now  exhibiting  at  South  Kensington  ....  He  entered  most 
warmly  and  kindly  into  my  views,  pointed  out  to  me  the  best  au- 
thorities, and  gave  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Francis  Douce, 
the  eminent  antiquary,  from  whom  also  I  met  with  the  most  cor- 
dial reception. 

Mr.  Douce  ....  most  liberally  placed  the  whole  of  his 
invaluable  collection  of  illuminated  MSS.  ...  at  my  disposal. 
He  paid  me  also  the  great  compliment  of  lending  me  his  fine  copy 
of  Strutt's  Dress  and  Habits  of  the  People  of  England,  coloured 
expressly  for  him  by  its  author.  .  .  .  Dr.  Meyrick  was  equally 
kind  and  of  great  assistance  to  me,  for  of  armour  our  artists  and 
actors  in  those  days  knew  even  less  than  of  civil  costume.  In  the 
theatre,  however,  my  innovations  were  regarded  with  distrust  and 
jealousy.  Mr.  Faucett,  the  stage-manager,  considered  his  dignity 
oflfended  by  the  production  of  the  play  being  placed  under  my  direc- 
tion. .  .  .  Mr.  Farley  also  took  huff.  He  was  the  recognized 
purveyor  and  director  of  spectacles,  and  dreaded  "the  dimming  of 


COSTUMING   ON    THE    ENGLISH    STAGE— 1660-1823  215 

his  shining  star".  The  expenditure  of  a  few  hundred  pounds  on 
any  drama,  except  an  Easter  piece  or  a  Christmas  pantomime,  was 
not  to  be  tolerated.  "Besides",  he  piteously  exclaimed,  "if  Shake- 
speare is  to  be  produced  with  such  splendor  and  attention  to  cos- 
tumes, what  am  I  to  do  for  the  holidays?"  ....  Never  shall 
I  forget  the  dismay  of  some  of  the  performers  when  they  looked 
upon  the  flat-topped  chapeaux  de  fer  {fer  blanc,  I  confess)  of  the 
12th  century,  which  they  irreverently  stigmatized  as  stewpans! 
Nothing  but  the  fact  that  the  classical  features  of  a  Kemble  were 
to  be  surmounted  by  a  precisely  similar  abomination  would,  I  think, 
have  induced  one  of  the  rebellious  barons  to  have  appeared  in  it. 
They  had  no  faith  in  me,  and  sulkily  assumed  their  new  and  strange 
habiliments,  in  the  full  belief  that  they  should  be  roared  at  by  the 
audiences.  They  were  roared  at;  but  in  a  much  more  agreeable 
way  than  they  had  contemplated.  When  the  curtain  rose,  and  dis- 
covered King  John  dressed  as  his  effigy  appears  in  Worcester 
Cathedral,  surrounded  by  his  barons  sheathed  in  mail,  with  cylin- 
drical helmets  and  correct  armorial  shields,  and  his  courtiers  in  the 
long  tunics  and  mantles  of  the  thirteenth  century,  there  was  a  roar 
of  approbation,  accompanied  by  four  distinct  rounds  of  applause, 
so  general  and  so  hearty,  that  the  actors  were  astonished,  and  I 
felt  amply  rewarded  for  all  the  trouble,  anxiety,  and  annoyance  I 
had  experienced  during  my  labours.  Receipts  for  400  to  600  pounds 
nightly  soon  reimbursed  the  management  for  the  expense  of  the 
production,  and  a  complete  reformation  of  dramatic  costume  became 
from  that  moment  inevitable  upon  the  English  stage.^^ 

Aiid  indeed  this  performance  of  King  John  in  1823  did  mark 
the  climax  of  the  struggle  for  realism  in  stage  costuming,  a 
realism  evidenced  in  the  use  of  real  materials  and  in  strict 
adherence  to  historically  accurate  designs. 

However,  any  account  of  the  Romantic  Movement  on  the 
stage  which  included  only  a  history  of  the  growth  of  realism 
would  be  altogether  misrepresenting  the  true  state  of  affairs. 
Just  as  elsewhere,  the  Romantic  Movement  in  its  later  mani- 
festations was  revealed  on  the  stage  by  a  new  interest  in  clas- 
sical tradition.  In  costume  this  interest  was  revealed  by  a 
new  emphasis  on  beauty  of  line  and  by  the  consequent  use  of 
materials  adapted  to  drapery.  That  such  a  result  was  in- 
evitable is  at  once  evident  when  one  remembers  the  supreme' 
importance  of  the  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii  discoveries  and 

<"Ibid.,  I:  52-57. 


216  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

of  the  bringing  of  the  Elgin  marbles  to  England.  The  in- 
terest in  sculpture  evident  in  the  forming  of  the  societies 
which  preceded  the  founding  of  the  Royal  Society  is  also  to 
be  considered,  and  likewise  the  translation  in  1765  by  Fuseli 
of  Wincklemann 's  Reflections  on  the  Painting  and  Sculpture 
of  the  Greeks. 

John  Kemble  is  said  to  have  been  much  interested  in  Ro- 
man dress — as  in  all  things  Roman.  Doran  says  of  him:  "I 
think,  in  the  old  Roman  habit  he  was  most  at  his  ease ;  there, 
art,  I  am  told,  seemed  less,  nature  more".  And  again  he 
saj's,  "He  bore  drapery  with  infinite  grace"."*  Boaden  speaks 
of  his  fondness  for  Roman  dress  many  times,  and,  indeed,  the 
recognition  of  his  appreciation  of  drapery  is  general  among 
his  biographers  and  critics. 

However,  Mrs.  Siddons,  rather  than  her  brother,  seems  to 
have  been  the  first  to  apply  the  lessons  taught  by  Greek  sculp- 
ture to  the  matter  of  stage  costume.  Her  interest  in  sculp- 
ture probably  was  largely  brought  about  through  her  friend- 
ship with  the  Honorable  Mrs.  Damer,  a  sculptress  of  some 
note  in  her  own  day.  Speaking  of  the  Kemble  performance 
of  Coriolanus  in  the  season  of  1788-89,  Boaden  says : 

By  a  course  of  peculiar  study,  antiquity  became  better  known  to 
Mrs.  Siddons;  and  Mr.  Kemble  also  grew  more  completely  Roman. 
Mrs.  Damer  had  led  her  friend  into  admiration  of  the  forms  which 
she  had  modelled;  and  I  presume  it  was  from  the  display  of  that 
lady's  talent,  that  the  great  actress  became  attached  to  the  same 
pursuit.  The  application  to  statuary  is  always  the  study  of  the 
antique.  It  soon  became  apparent,  that  Mrs.  Siddons  was  conver- 
sant with  drapery  more  dignified  than  the  shifting  robes  of  fash- 
ion; and  in  truth  her  action  also  occasionally  reminded  the  specta- 
tor of  classic  models.  She  had  not  derived  this  from  any  foreign 
theaters,  for  she  had  then  seen  none.  Her  attention  to  sculpture 
accounts  for  it  satisfactorily.*^ 

Commenting  on  Mrs.  Siddons  in  the  season  of  1791-92  Boa- 
den again  emphasizes  the  fact  that  her  interest  in  statuary 


'Doran,  I.  c,  II:  275,  276. 
'Boaden,  Life  of  Kemble,  I:  425. 


COSTUMING   ON   THE   ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  217 

had  made  an  impression  in  regard  to  ''simplicity  of  attire 
and  severity  of  attitude".     He  continues, 

The  actress  had  formerly  complied  with  fashion,  and  deemed  the 
prevalent  becoming;  she  now  saw  that  tragedy  was  debased  by  the 
flutter  of  light  materials,  and  that  the  head,  and  all  its  powerful 
action  from  the  shoulders,  should  never  be  encumbered  by  the  mon- 
strous invention  of  the  hair-dresser  and  the  milliner.'" 

In  his  life  of  the  actress,  Thomas  Campbell  also  gives  prom- 
inence to  this  interest  of  Mrs.  Siddons.  He  says  that  in  1789 
or  1790,  Mrs.  Siddons  visited  a  shop  in  Birmingham,  and  un- 
recognized, bought  a  bust  of  herself.  Deciding  that  she  could 
do  better  herself,  she  took  up  modeling.     He  comments: 

This  circumstance  lead  her  to  study  statuary;  and  I  have  no 
doubt  was  beneficial  to  her  taste  in  drapery  and  acting.  At  the 
same  time,  I  distinctly  remember  her  telling  me  that  predilection 
for  the  classic  costume  was  anterior  to  this  period,  and  that  one 
evening,  in  the  second  season  of  her  acting  at  Drury  Lane,  when 
she  had  dismissed  the  fashionable  curls  and  lappetts,  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  came  up  to  her,  after  the  play  and  rapturously  praised 
the  round  apple  form  which  she  had  given  to  her  head." 

Campbell  also  quotes  from  Mrs.  Siddons  her  own  account  of 
this  interest.  She  is  reported  to  have  made  the  following 
statement : 

Sir  Joshua  often  honoured  me  by  his  presence  at  the  theatre. 
He  approved  very  much  of  my  costume,  and  of  my  hair  without 
powder,  which  at  that  time  was  used  in  great  profusion,  with  a  red- 
dish-brown tint,  and  a  great  quantity  of  pomatum,  which,  well 
kneaded  together,  modelled  the  fair  ladies'  tresses  into  large  curls 
like  demi-cannon.  My  locks  were  generally  braided  into  a  small 
compass,  so  as  to  ascertain  the  size  and  shape  of  my  head,  which, 
to  a  painter's  eye,  was  of  course  an  agreeable  departure  from  the 
mode.  My  short  waist,  too,  was  to  him  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the 
long  stiff  stays  and  hoop  petticoats,  which  were  then  the  fashion, 
even  on   the   stage,   and  it  obtained   his   unqualified   approbation.*^ 


"•Boaden,  Life  of  Mrs.  Siddons,  II:  290,  291.  In  this  place  also  Boaden 
comments  on  the  fact  that  the  French  debased  the  classical  mode  to  an 
approach  to  nakedness,  and  he  commends  the  temperateness  and  beauty 
of  Mrs.   Siddons's  modifications. 

''Campbell,  Thomas,  Life  of  Mrs.  Siddons  (London,  1834),  II:  266,  267 

^^Ibid.,  I:  244,  245. 


I 


218  UNIVERSITY    OP    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

All  who  have  written  of  their  impressions  of  Mrs.  Siddons 
have  apparently  noted  her  love  for  beauty  of  line  and  her  con- 
sequent adapting  of  costume  and  gesture  to  secure  the  dig- 
nity and  grace  to  be  attained  only  by  due  regard  for  the  pre- 
servation of  the  natural  curves  of  the  human  body  and  the 
sweeping  gestures  of  unhampered  movement.  When  it  is  re- 
membered that  Mrs.  Siddons  was  absolutely  without  a  rival, 
that  she  stood  unchallenged  in  her  greatness,  that  other  ac- 
tresses took  her  as  their  model,  and  that,  moreover,  she  repre- 
sented the  same  interests  that  dominated  the  work  of  her 
brothers  in  their  career  as  theatrical  managers,  it  is  easily 
seen  how  all-important  was  the  interest  in  sculpture  expressed 
in  her  own  costume  and  in  her  action  on  the  stage. 

However,  it  was  not  a  single  influence,  not  even  that  of 
Mrs.  Siddons 's  interest,  that  brought  about  new  attention  to 
the  line  of  drapery.  During  these  years  when  the  Kembles 
dominated  the  London  stage,  the  Academy  leaders,  Barry, 
Opie,  and  Fuseli,  were  giving  utterance  to  theories  regarding 
the  importance  of  the  study  of  Greek  sculpture  to  the  study 
of  painting,  and  were  stressing  particularly  the  value  of 
beauty  of  line.  A  perusal  of  their  lectures  will  reveal  the 
fact  that  just  as  costume  on  the  stage  came  to  express  the 
tendency  to  preserve  always  the  beauty  of  the  natural  curves 
of  the  body,  to  insist  on  beauty  of  line  in  drapery,  and  to 
value  richness  of  texture  in  costume  material,  these  ideas 
were  finding  their  logical  sponsors  also  among  the  leading 
Academicians.  Hogarth  had  in  1753  insisted  in  his  Analysis 
of  Beauty  on  the  value  of  gesture  in  obtaining  restful  and 
beautiful  lines.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  had  in  his  Discourses 
commented  on  the  need  for  elevation  and  dignity  in  art.  But 
in  these  later  Academicians  we  find  full  and  concrete  analysis 
of  these  truths."^ 

According  to  his  biographers,  John  Kemble  was  always  in- 
terested in  painting  and  painters.  Boaden  says  that  he  made 
daily  rounds  of  the  studios  of  his  friends.  It  is  impossible 
not  to  think  that  the  theories  constantly  discussed  in  relation 


**  Cf .    Lectures  on    Painting    by   the  Royal  Academicians:   Barry,    Opie 
and  Fuseli,  Ed.  by  R.  W.  Wornum,  London,  1848. 


COSTUMING    ON   THE    ENGLISH    STAGE — 1660-1823  219 

to  their   application   to  painting   should   also   have   seemed 
applicable  to  the  art  of  the  stage,  an  art  which  he  considered 
as  seriously  from  an  aesthetic  and  philosophical  point  of  view       / 
as  ever  painter  considered  his  art.  — ' 

This  association  with  the  artists  of  his  time  also  apparently 
led  Kemble  to  take  interest  in  the  presentation  of  the  super- 
natural on  the  stage. '°  Of  course,  this  interest  in  the  super- 
natural w^as  characteristic  of  the  whole  Romantic  Movement. 
On  the  stage,  however,  only  very  inadequate  and  unconsid- 
ered treatment  had  been  given  to  ghosts,  witches,  fairies,  and 
elemental  spirits  until  the  treatment  of  such  beings  by  Reyn- 
olds and  Fuseli  gave  Kemble  and  his  associates  new  ideas  as 
to  the  possibilities  of  their  presentation  on  the  stage.  It  is 
said  that  Booth  as  the  Ghost  in  Hamlet  wore  cloth  shoes  with 
cloth  soles,  so  that  ' '  the  sound  of  his  step  should  not  be  heard 
on  the  stage,  which  had  a  characteristical  effect  ".^^  For 
many  years  during  a  later  period  the  Ghost  Avore  armor  while 
the  young  Hamlet  wore  a  modern  suit.'-  The  witches  of  Mac- 
beth wore  varying,  but  unvaryingly  inappropriate  costumes. 
Mrs.  Crouch  wore  "a  fancy  hat,  powdered  hair,  rouge,  point 
lace,  and  fine  linen"  when  playing  one  of  the  witches  in  Mac- 
hetli,  even  while  Kemble  was  manager  in  1788-89.  Boaden  is 
inclined  to  justify  her  dress  on  the  ground  that  there  must 
have  been  some  of  the  fallen  spirits  who  could  assume  a  beauti- 
ful appearance. 

Besides  [he  says],  I  know  not  why  the  stage  should  refuse  those 
aids  of  elegance  and  fancy,  which  that  inimitable  artist  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  introduced  in  this  very  caldron  scene  in  Macbeth,  and  the 
still  bolder  imagination  of  Fuseli  constantly  displayed  when  dress- 


'"  Fuseli  was  much  interested  in  the  presentation  of  the  superna- 
tural. His  comment  on  the  presentation  of  Macbeth  sounds  quite 
modern.  (See  Lectures,  I.  c.,  p.  454)  :  "It  is  not  by  the  accumulation 
of  infernal  or  magic  machinery,  distinctly  seen,  by  the  introduction  of 
Hecate  and  a  chorus  of  female  demons  and  witches,  by  surrounding  him^ 
with  successive  apparitions  at  once,  and  a  range  of  shadows  moving 
above  or  before  him,  that  Macbeth  can  be  made  an  object  of  terror.  To 
render  him  so  you  must  place  him  on  a  ridge,  his  down-dashed  eye  ab- 
sorbed by  the  murky  abyss :  surround  the  horrid  vision  with  darkness, 
exclude   its   limits,   and   shear  its   light   to   glimpses". 

"Cooke,  Macklin,  16. 

"Boaden,  Life  of  Kemble,  I:   104. 


220  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIES 

ing  the  gay  creatures  of  the  element,  that  "live  in  the  colours  of  the 
rainbow."  The  group  did  not  consist  entirely  of  witches — spirits  of 
the  four  elements  mingled  in  the  incantations." 

The  Dramatic  Mirror  records  the  performance  of  Macbeth 
which  opened  the  new  Drury  Lane  in  the  season  of  1793-4. 

The  scenes  were  all  new,  and  the  witches  no  longer  wore  mittens, 
plaited  caps,  laced  aprons,  red  stomachers,  ruffs,  etc.,  (which  was 
the  dress  of  those  weird  sisters,  when  Messrs.  Beard,  Champness, 
etc.  represented  them  with  Garrick's  Macbeth),  or  any  human  garb, 
but  appeared  as  preternatural  things,  distinguishable  only  by  the 
fellness  of  their  purposes  and  the  fatality  of  their  delusions.  Hec- 
ate's accompanying  spirit  descended  on  the  cloud,  and  rose  again 
with  her.  In  the  cauldron  scene,  new  groups  were  introduced  to 
personify  the  black  spirits  and  white,  blue  spirits  and  grey.  The 
evil  spirits  had  serpents  writhing  round  them,  which  had  a  strik- 
ing effect." 

Boaden  was  much  interested  in  the  whole  matter  and  in- 
sisted that  the  stage  should  in  King  Henry  VIII.  copy  Fuse- 
li's  treatment  of  the  scene  depicting  the  dream  of  Queen 
Katherine.'^^  Boaden  himself,  he  says,  copied  from  Fuseli's 
notebook  certain  costumes  for  the  1798  performance  of  the 
Bards  of  CamhraiJ'^  And  for  the  presentation  of  Mrs.  Rad- 
cliffe's  Romance  of  the  Forest,  dramatized  by  Boaden,  the 
treatment  of  the  spirit  was  based  on  that  of  Fuseli's  picture 
of  the  Royal  Dane  published  in  Boydell's  Shakespeare  Gal- 
lery in  1803.  The  desired  effect  was  secured  by  suspending 
gauze  over  a  portal.  A  tall  man  with  stately  tread  was  se- 
cured for  the  ghost.  "A  dark  blue  grey  stuff  made  in  the 
shape  of  armour,  and  sitting  close  to  the  person  furnished  the 
costume  ".'^^ 

The  increasing  effectiveness  of  the  stage  treatment  of  super- 
natural beings  was,  of  course,  conditioned  upon  the  better 
lighting  of  the  stage  and  upon  a  greater  variety  of  stage  ma- 
chinery.    Indeed,  if  we  are  to  trace  the  causes  Avhich  led  to 


"Boaden,  Life  of  Kemble,  I:  417,  418. 

"The  Dramatic  Mirror  by  Thomas  Gilliland   (London,  1808),  I:   145. 

"Boaden,  I.  c,  II:   121. 

''^  Ibid.,  II:    219. 

■'-Ibid.,  II:   96-98. 


COSTUMING    ON   THE    ENGLISH    STAGE— 1660-1S23  221 

a  new  interest  in  costume  and  to  a  new  realization  of  the 
value  of  costumes  as  an  integral  part  of  the  stage  picture,  we 
must  consider  the  physical  changes  of  the  stage  during  the 
late  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries.  To  quote  H. 
Barton  Baker's  History  of  the  London  Stage: 

A  drawing  of  the  interior  of  Covent  Garden,  made  about  1763, 
shows  us  a  stage  lit  at  tlie  back  by  six  chandeliers,  each  with 
twelve  candles  in  brass  sockets.  Garrick  abolished  these  at  Drury 
Lane  when  he  returned  from  the  Continent,  substituting  concealed 
lamps  in  their  place  and  introducing  footlights.'* 

With  a  stage  half  proscenium,  and  lit  by  candles,  there  was  not 
much  scope  for  scenic  effects,  nevertheless  Garrick  engaged  the 
famous  Dutch  artist  Loutherbourg,  etc.'°  _.^ 

In  The  Annals  of  Covent  Garden  Theatre  is  reproduced  an 
old  print — perhaps  the  one  referred  to  by  Mr.  Baker,  show- 
ing this  old  scheme  of  lighting.  Professor  Lawrence  likewise 
describes  the  1763  print  which  is  reproduced  in  his  article 
on  De  Loutherbourg.  In  explaining  the  significance  of  De 
Loutherbourg 's  contributions  to  the  theatre,  he  says : 

That  the  scenery  of  Garrick's  earlier  day  was,  for  the  most  part, 
a  vague  and  ill-lit  setting,  arose  from  the  circumstance  that  the 
candle  hoops  were  hung  well  to  the  front  of  the  stage,  which  pro- 
jected beyond  the  proscenium  into  the  pit.  Strictly  speaking,  the 
scenery  of  that  era  can  hardly  be  dealt  with  as  an  integrant  factor 
in  the  glamour  of  the  playhouse,  as  the  actors  had  invariably  to 
step  out  of  the  picture  in  order  to  get  into  the  focus. 

In  a  word,  the  drama  in  1770,  as  in  the  days  of  Shakespeare,  was 
still  a  rhetorical,  not  an  illusive  or  pictorial,  art.  De  Loutherbourg 
did  not  reform  all  this,  but  in  the  course  of  a  decade  he  paved  the 
way  for  Kemble,  who  brought  realistic  detail  and  local  colour  to 
the  theatre.  Almost  his  first  work  at  Drury  Lane  under  Garrick 
was  his  introduction  of  a  series  of  headlights  or  border  battens  be- 
hind the  proscenium,  at  once  depriving  the  actors  of  any  excuse  for 
stepping  outside  the  picture  beyond  that  of  custom,  and  increasing 
the  relative  importance  of  the  scenery  by  a  flood  of  illumination."  ; 

However,  it  was  not  until  the  season  1817-18  that  the  Lon- 
don playhouses  were  illuminated  by  gas  instead  of  candle 


"Pa£?e  126. 
"/birt.,  128. 
'"Lawrence,  Z.  c,  173. 


222  UNIVERSITY    OF    WISCONSIN    STUDIeV 


..^^...^ 


light,  and  it  is  not  until  the  advent  of  this  less  temperamental 
means  of  lighting  the  stage  tliat  the  definite  value  of  costumes 
as  a  part  of  scenic  effect  came  to  be  recognized.  However, 
with  a  stage  so  lighted  and  so  arranged  as  to  include  the 
actors  in  the  scene,  and  with  lights  which  made  possible  the 
arrangement  of  the  stage  with  a  view  to  lights  and  shadows, 
color  and  texture  in  garments  became  important  as  well  as 
the  line  of  drapery;  and  the  recognition  of  the  unity  in  the 
scene  gave  to  the  stage  artist  and  stage  manager  new  concep- 
tions of  the  stage  picture. 

To  trace  the  history  of  stage  costume  from  1660  to  1823, 
then,  is  to  discover  that  the  stage  depended  for  the  possibility 
of  its  development  upon  the  receipts  from  pit  and  boxes ;  that 
it  shared  the  aesthetic  theories  of  the  time  in  common  with 
all  other  arts ;  and  that  its  artistic  effects  were  conditioned  by 
matters  of  construction  and  illumination.^^  For  a  time  after 
1660  there  was  not  much  attention  given  to  matters  of  cos- 
tume on  the  English  stage,  save  that  certain  traditions  in  re- 
gard to  the  dressing  of  particular  characters  Avere  adhered  to. 
There  was  no  recognition  of  governing  principles  save  that 
the  better  actor  and  the  superior  types  of  play  deserved  the 
better  costumes.  The  first  part  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
also,  was  a  time  of  meagerness  and  shabbiness  in  the  theatri- 
cal wardrobe ;  yet  during  these  years  Aaron  Hill,  Charles 
Macklin,  and  Sir  John  Hill  were  heralding  the  approach  of 
a  time  when  correctness  and  beauty  should  be  sought  on  the 
stage  in  matters  of  dress.  With  the  coming  of  Garrick  the 
fat  years  of  the  theatres  commenced,  and  it  was  possible  grad- 
ually to  answer  the  first  demand  of  the  Romantic  Movement 
for  realism  by  using  more  elegant  materials  in  stage  dresses. 
The  demand  for  realistic  presentation  of  historical  detail  and 


*i  I  have  recently  consulted  the  work  of  Adolphe  Julien,  Histoire  du 
Costume  au  Thedtre  depuis  les  Origines  du  ThMtre  en  France  jusqu/i 
nos  Jours  (Paris,  1880),  and  have  been  interested  to  And  how  definitely 
the  history  of  the  French  theatre  parallels  that  of  the  English.  I  can 
see  no  evidence,  however,  that  in  matters  of  costume  the  French  stage 
was  directly  responsible  for  changes  made  in  the  English  stage.  Indeed, 
the  changes  are  too  nearly  coincident  and  the  French  stage  too  often 
lags  behind,  to  permit  such  an  inference.  Other  causes  seem  to  me  ade- 
quate to  account  for  the  changes  noted  in  any  case. 


COSTUMING   ON   THE   ENGLISH   STAGE— 1660-1823  223 

local  color  in  costume  was  only  occasionally  heeded,  however, 
and  in  general  resulted  only  in  eccentricities  and  incongrui- 
ties when  a  progressive  actor  attempted  to  carry  out  his  the- 
ories. The  discoveries  of  the  century,  and  the  new  impetus 
given  to  historical  research  resulted  in  the  publishing  of 
authoritative  books  of  costumes  after  1775.  The  new  and 
improved  lighting  of  the  stage  after  1765  gradually  made  pos- 
sible_the_epnception  of  the^stage  as  a  picture  m  \yhich  cos- 
tumes  and  scenery  must  be  regarded  as  one.  Moreover, _sdill 
the  cominp;  of  John  Kcmblc  there  was  brought  to  the^age  a 
new  interest  in  aceurafv  and  in  splendor  as  well.  The  result, 
was  the  designing  and  the  execution  of  scenery  and  costumes^ 
under  unified  control.  There  Avas  also  during  the  Kemble 
regime  a  growing  apprcciatiDn  (if  classical  beauty  pid  a. ni.Qd- 
ificatioii  of  costume  designs  to  secure  beauty  of  line.  An  in- 
terest in  the  presentation  of  the  supernatural  was  also  evi- 
denced. The  work  of  John  Kemble  was  carried  to  its  logical 
conclusion  under  the  management  of  Charles  Kemble,  who 
had  the  invaluable  assistance  of  Blanche,  an  artist  and  anti- 
quary whose  chief  interest  came  to  be  in  historical  English 
costume. 

In  the  early  nineteenth  century,  then,  we  find  in  England7 
a  Komantic  stage  insisting  upon  realism  in  costume,  a  realism 
based  upon  the  accurate  study  of  authority,  but  also  a  real- 
ism modified  by  the  desire  for  beauty  of  the  classical  type. 
We  find  a  stage  conceived  of  as  a  picture  in  which  scenery' 
and  costume  unite  to  produce  a  single  effect,  a  stage  which, 
therefore,  demanded  a  unified  control  in  the  design  and  execu- 
tion of  scenery  and  costume,  a  stage  which  demanded  also 
costly  productions  under  expert  managers  and  an  army  of 
artists  and  craftsmen.  And  such  a  stage  has  been  the  domi- 
nant factor  in  determining  dramatic  effect  until  our  very  re- 
cent theorists  are  forcing  us  again  to  search  the  foundation 
principles  of  our  art  to  discover  whether  after  all  there  be 
any  good  thing  and  true  in  realism. 


^a70i>9 


